A bill has been filed at the House of Representatives fixing the time within which the Commission on Audit may review the financial records and transactions of government agencies.
House Bill 6761, authored by Sagip Party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta, proposes the adoption of a mechanism which provides a prescriptive period within which the CoA may conduct audits and issue decisions on cases.
“An agency’s success and operational efficiencies are always on the time limits of the goals as well as their completion. There cannot be any better assessment for a job if the set time for which it has to be completed is not met,” said Marcoleta during the bll’s deliberation conducted by the House of Representatives’ committee on revision of laws chaired by Pangasinan Rep. Marlyn Primicias-Agabas.
Marcoleta during the hearing observed CoA seemed to follow no timeframe and that it acted on its own discretion.
He added CoA should no longer conduct post-audits five to 10 years following the issuance of the notice of disallowance.
The premises to be considered are: (a) agencies or officials involved no longer possess the necessary documents, (b) offices have space constraints, (c) computers that can hold digital documents are finite, and (d) concerned government officials are no longer in service.
For its part, CoA, through Assistant Commissioner Elizabeth Zosa, cited timelines stipulated in the 2009 Revised Rules of Procedure as well as Presidential Decree 1445 or the Government Auditing Code of the Philippines.
“We have to admit that these [specified timeframes] are not complied with, not because we don’t want to but because there are constraints on what we can do,” Zosa told the panel.
Zosa appealed for the consideration of CoA’s two main functions: the auditing and the adjudicating functions.
She assured the committee that the auditing process did not take years to be accomplished.
However, she noted that upon auditing, the Commission would need a considerable time to reach a final decision on certain cases.
Aside from the notice of disallowance being subject to appeal, Zosa said the presence of several adjudicators within CoA also posed a lengthier finalization process.
“We are thankful for the honorable House Members who are helping us. Of course, we welcome any help because we are all one in promoting the general welfare of the public that we serve. But we have to work within the framework of our system. Also, we have to balance the rights of individuals with the rights of the state to recover funds which are illegally and irregularly disbursed,” said Zosa.