INDIVIDUALS and teams of state auditors who exhibited exemplary performances in their jobs during the year were honored during the 126th anniversary celebration of the Commission on Audit (COA) last May 7.
Among the awardees were a team that reduced school fees in a state university, another team whose work paved the way for a program to light up remote barangays, a third that found almost P2 billion in parked funds, and an individual who has to appear in court exactly 100 times over two years to testify in various corruption cases.
COA Chairperson Gamaliel Cordoba and Commissioner Douglas Michael N. Mallillin, together with senior officials of the commission and the Committee on COA Program on Awards and Incentives for Service Excellence (PRAISE), were present during the program held at the COA Sports and Cultural Center in Quezon City.
“Your stories will continue to inspire us. You have shown that excellence thrives when competence meets compassion and when service is not just performed, but lived in our hearts. May your accomplishments and collective efforts encourage others to reach higher, work harder, and lead with honor,” Cordoba said.
The Gawad Kahusayan awards were conferred on two teams “in recognition of extraordinary performance or service and continuous demonstration of competency.”
The first one went to state auditors Ada Mae Repollo and Angelica Carreon from COA Regional Office 1, whose efforts at improving the fiscal management of the Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University led to the reduction of school fees for medical science programs, rationalized collection of student fees, and savings from halting excessive internet subscriptions.
A similar award was received by a team from the Special Audits Office (SAO), Special Services Sector, composed of incumbent auditors Dante Dejeto, Francis Sy, Elize Kristine Marquez, Baby Rose Raquel, and Amer Hussein Marsangca, with former Director Gloria Silverio and the late State Auditor Florefe Avila.
Their work led to the recovery of P36.95 million unutilized subsidies from the National Electrification Administration (NEA) that was released to an electric cooperative. The amount would now fund a project to bring power to 32 remote sitios under the rural electrification program.
The Gawad Karangalan (Level III) award was won by Director Ameer Gamama of Cluster 6, National Government Audit Sector (NGAS) and Acting Assistant Director Joseph Cabiles of the Claims and Adjudication Office (CAO).
Director Gamama led the audit of the University of the Philippines (UP) System, resulting in the refund of P1.92 billion “parked fund” by the Philippine International Trading Corporation (PITC) plus P2 million interest. The sum represented funding for projects that were delayed and never completed.
Likewise, the UP System generated additional income amounting to P197 million from the previously uncollected rent from the UP Town Center through his team’s efforts.
Lawyer Cabiles, on the other hand, was recognized for defending the government against unfounded money claims to protect public resources.
One notable case was the Supreme Court decision that affirmed with modifications the COA’s decision on violations of procurement laws and regulations in the construction of the Malayantoc Memorial Park Project.
The Gawad Karangalan (Level II) was conferred on Joven Macasinag of Cluster 8, National Government Sector and Allan Arnel Miel of COA Regional Office No. VII. Macasinag was cited for his contribution to the development of the Climate Scanner Rapid Review Tool and assessment of the Philippine Government’s climate action using the said tool.
The result was submitted to the Climate Scanner Executive Group led by the Supreme Audit Institution of Brazil and the initial global results were presented to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Lawyer Miel was able to cause the recovery of public funds from audited agencies without lengthy procedures. One such case was the amount of unfavorable variance of the contract price noted on the Mactan Corporate/Operations Building Project, which was deducted from progress billings and retention fee without issuing a notice of disallowance.
Niño Ian U. Perez of the Special Audit Office, who took the Gawad Karangalan (Level I), held the distinction of spending a significant amount of his workdays in court instead of the office. Records showed he was called to testify as a witness in court hearings and case conferences no less than 65 times in 2023 and 35 times in 2024.
The award for Audit Teams with Outstanding Audit Reports was conferred to the teams from the Fraud Audit Office (FAO); Cluster 1, NGAS; and COA Regional Office No. VI.
The Fraud Audit Report of State Auditors Lourdes Borromeo and Sharon Lee Guntang from the FAO involved anomalous transactions at the Philippine Aerospace Development Corporation. Their findings were instrumental in the filing of three cases by the Office of the Ombudsman and led to the conviction of accountable government officials and other individuals involved.
The team of State Auditors Fahd Bin Abdul Malik N. Tomawis, Clarence E. Palitic, Elvira B. De Veyra, Maritess R. Salamania, and Gerileen R. Barrera working on the National Printing Office (NPO) audit flagged the subcontracting by the NPO in the guise of Equipment Leasing Agreement with private printing companies.
A Notice of Disallowance was later issued and the case had been appealed to different levels, with the most recent Supreme Court Decision in G.R. No. 261207 dated 22 August 2024 affirming the COA Decision. The case involves a potential monetary recovery in favor of the government.
The COA Regional Office NO. VI Audit team of Braddy Racho, Carlo Angelo Alcayaga, Emily Gardoce and Felanita De Leon conducted cash examinations on the accounts of various accountable officers (AO) of the Municipality of Sta. Barbara, Iloilo where they discovered cash shortages amounting to P12.732 million, leading to the filing of administrative charges against three AOs who were found guilty of serious dishonesty and dismissed from service.
