THE motor vehicles account of the Supreme Court as of yearend 2023 showed the Motorpool Section under the Property Division had delisted some 40 items from its service fleet during the year but government auditors found no documentary trace as to how and where they eventually ended up.
According to the 2023 audit of the High Court, the 40 vehicles have a total acquisition cost of P57.193 million.
“In a letter dated March 1, 2024, the Deputy Clerk of Court of OAS, SC, claimed that the 40 motor vehicles with a total acquisition cost of P57,193,010 have been disposed by way of auction, sale to retired Justices, and transfer without costs to other government agencies, however, the documentation for disposed vehicles are still being collated for submission,” the audit team said.
State auditors reminded the SC that Item No. 4, Part V of the Judiciary Manual of Asset Inventory requires that the disposal records should have been submitted by the Disposal Committee to the Accounting Division.
The submission of supporting documents is supposed to help property officers keep track of items in the SC’s Property, Plants, and Equipment. Disposed properties are required to have a journal entry voucher to record the sale or transfer which in turn is a condition for the dropping of the said assets from the agency’s books.
In their report, the auditors recommended that the SC direct the Property Division and Disposal Committee to submit the full documentation in support of the disposal of the 40 vehicles.
Auditors said this will prove “that the disposal was not tainted with lack or abuse of discretion in the disposal of the subject motor vehicles.”
In a separate finding, the audit team found that P269.104 million SC cash has become dormant or inactive in non-interest Continuous Form Checking accounts (CFC current accounts).
The CFC current accounts were used to pay the salaries and wages of the court personnel before the court’s payrolls were transferred to an automated payroll system in May 2014.
“We observed that these accounts were no longer used and no transactions were recorded in the bank per BS (bank statements) as at year-end,” the COA noted.
The commission said the SC is not required to revert the sum to the General Fund but may use the money to “address any deficiencies in appropriations.”
