THE Commission on Audit (COA) has given the House of Representatives clean audits for the past six years during the administration of former President Rodrigo Duterte contrary to his allegation that that chamber has been spared scrutiny by government auditors.
Verification of the annual audit reports of the House from 2017 to 2022 showed that other than being reminded about delays in the submission of documents, there were no adverse findings regarding its transactions.
In the latest audit on the lower house, the COA declared: “For CY 2022 and prior years, no Notice of Suspension, Notice of Disallowance, and Notice of Charge was issued.”
Auditors issue a notice of suspension when a transaction is not supported by required documents, while notice of disallowance implies the existence of irregularity in how public funds were spent. A notice of charge, on the other hand, means auditors found revenues due the government are not collected or improperly computed.
Copies of audit reports of the House and other agencies from 2011 to 2022 are regularly uploaded and made accessible to the public on the COA website.
Over the six-year period, COA also certified that the House did not receive any Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) Fund.
In 2021 and 2022, COA also lauded the House for the timely remittance of employees’ contributions to the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-Ibig Fund), and the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHeath).
The House was also commended for “providing secure and suitable facilities for senior citizens and differently-abled employees and visitors,” including wheelchair ramps, elevators, and separate restroom cubicles with special fixtures.
“For CY 2022, aside from the proper maintenance of existing structures for SCs and PWDs, the HREP has undertaken improvements to make them more comfortable. We commended Management on its efforts and commitment in providing facilities and creating programs to respond to the needs of senior citizens and differently-abled persons,” said COA.
While Duterte questioned the House’s Extraordinary and Miscellaneous Expenses (EME), COA had already previously clarified that the said expense item is audited unlike confidential and intelligence funds (CIFs) granted to certain agencies.
According to the COA, the EME is “incurred for regular activities such as meetings, seminars and conferences; office equipment and supplies; public relations; educational, athletic and cultural activities; subscription to professional, technical journals and informative magazines, library book and materials; and other similar expenses not supported by the regular budget allocation.”
The financial statements of the lower house showed the highest EME spent was in 2020 at P5.67 billion when it listed 300 members and 7,588 officials and employees.
This expense item dropped to P4.98 billion in 2022, a decrease of P690 million.
