THE Commission on Audit has denied a Petition for Review filed by former officials of the Department of Education (DepEd) seeking the lifting of the disallowance issued against the P1.078 million honoraria paid to members of the 2013 Elections Task Force (ETF).
In a 17-page decision released over the weekend, the COA en banc affirmed the 2016 ruling of the COA National Government Sector – Cluster 5 that declared the Notices of Disallowance (NDs) valid.
In the 2014 audit of the DepEd, government auditors issued the NDs on the ground that the payment of honoraria to members of the ETF lacked legal basis.
According to audit records, P690,090 was paid in relation to the 2013 mid-term national elections and P387,450 for the barangay elections later that same year.
Auditors noted that the sum was charged against the funds of the Office of the Secretary of DepEd instead of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), which was contrary to the 2013 Memorandum of Agreement between the two agencies.
Held liable in both NDs were DepEd Undersecretary for Legal Alberto Muyot, Undersecretary for Regional Operations Rizalina Rivera, Undersecretary for Finance Francisco Varela, assistant secretaries Reynaldo Lagada, Tonisito Umali, Armando Ruiz and Jesus Lorenzo Mateo.
DepEd officials argued that the DepEd was deputized by the Comelec in 2013 and that the payment of honoraria was expressly allowed by the 2013 General Appropriations Act.
They added that there was no way that such a stipend could be considered “irregular, unnecessary, excessive, extravagant or unconscionable.”
The COA National Government Cluster said the creation of the DepEd ETF “partakes of the nature of rule of conduct of elections which is an exclusive domain of the Comelec.
“There is nothing in COMELEC Resolution No. 9640 dated February 15, 2013, stating that the members of the DepEd Central Office ETF are entitled to honoraria,” the auditors added.
“DepEd ETF cannot be considered as a “special project” since election matters are outside the core functions of the agency,” the COA pointed out.
