THE Supreme Court is closing seven bank accounts containing funds amounting to P268.4 million that have been tagged dormant or inactive by government auditors due to lack of any activity for several years.
This was in conformity with the audit recommendation to remit the funds back to the Bureau of Treasury (BTr) following discovery that the accounts had no record of any transaction for the past seven years.
In the 2021 management letter to the High Court posted last September 13, the Commission on Audit noted that all seven are non-interest bearing Continuous Form Checking accounts (CFCs) that have not moved at all since 2015.
These were formerly payroll accounts that became redundant when the judiciary upgraded its payout system during the Aquino administration.
“Verification of the bank statements … disclosed balances totaling P269,395,035.11. The CFC current accounts were used to fund the salaries and wages of court personnel prior to the implementation of the Automated Payroll System (APS) in May 2014. As of June 30, 2022, we noted that these accounts were no longer used,” the audit team said.
A breakdown of the deposits showed there was P83.69 million held in the CFC account for Municipal Circuit Trial Courts, P81.32 million for Municipal Trial Courts (MTC), P48.106 million for Regional Trial Courts, P39.49 million for MTC in cities, P10.071 million for Shari’a Circuit Court, P5.63 million for Metropolitan Trial Courts, and P95,090 for Shari’a District Court.
The COA reminded the Supreme Court that under the General Provisions of the 2021 General Appropriations Act (2021 GAA) all government agencies, including those enjoying fiscal autonomy, were required to close and revert all balances of special accounts … “when they are no longer necessary for the attainment of the purposes for which the said funds were established.
“We recommended and (SC) management agreed to direct the AD, OCA (Accounting Department, Office of the Court Administrator) to facilitate the closure of the CFC current accounts …and remit the total balance to the BTr,” the COA said.
