THE Commission on Audit (COA) has found it uncool that the National Library has left some expensive items off its books — 50 air conditioning units, in fact.
Onsite inspection by government auditors showed there were four floor-mounted aircon units each in the main lobby on the ground floor, the auditorium, and the Antonio Santos Hall (also on the ground floor). Backing these up are four “ceiling cassette inverter air conditioner” also found on the ground floor lobby.
There are also nine units each in the reading area of the Reference section and the mezzanine, both on the second floor, and nine more at the third-floor mezzanine of the Filipiniana section.
Another seven units were installed at the Filipiniana reading area, also on the third floor.
On top of these, auditors also found two sets of Hikvision walk-through body temperature scanner with TV monitor and camera installed on the main lobby — also off the books.
“50 air-conditioning units and two sets of body temperature scanner were found by the audit team installed in different areas of the NLP Building during inspection. Verification disclosed that these equipment were not recorded in the books of the NLP,” the COA said.
Documents obtained by the audit team showed the aircon units were “delivered and installed” by the contractor AC Tumang Construction but their review of the itemized cost breakdown based on the contract showed there was no indication of how much they cost.
On the other hand, the walk-through body temperature scanners were supposedly donated to the National Library, but no pertinent documents were shown to the auditors.
“The Accountant explained that she had no basis in recording the equipment since she was not furnished the copy of pertinent documents. Likewise, the Property Officer could not prepare the PC (property card) and the PAR (property acknowledgment receipt) due to lack of documents,” the audit team noted.
Maintaining a proper inventory of properties in an agency’s ledgers is important to determine the value of its assets and to prevent loss either by theft or accident.
Even with that many air conditioning units installed however, the National Library’s electricity expenses in 2020 fell an impressive 67.67 percent compared to its 2019 consumption.
The breakdown of the agency’s maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) showed the National Library coughed up P8.237 million on power bills in 2019 but only P2.663 million in 2020.
The COA recommended that the National Library determine the fair value of all installed equipment for proper recording in its books.
