The Commission on Audit has lauded the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency for measures to improve transparency and security over billions of pesos worth of confiscated illegal drugs being held as evidence.
PDEA has fully implemented all recommendations submitted in the 2017 audit, raising questions on the inadequacy of security and due observance of guidelines set by the Dangerous Drugs Board on the handling, processing, and disposal of seized illegal drugs, state auditors said.
But CoA challenged PDEA over the issuance of 101 disbursement vouchers for 2018 transactions pertaining to local travel expenses of P51.83 million for lack of official receipts.
In a 2018 audit of PDEA released last June 12, CoA said the chief of the agency’s documentation and evidence division improved “controls on the safety and security of the laboratory” after undertaking a review of the guidelines on the handling an disposition of confiscated drugs.
Auditors earlier were barred access to the PDEA storage room on concerns about the sensitivity of evidence.
“This time around,” CoA said PDEA allowed auditors to inspect the evidence room, review the existing security protocols, and observe different procedures for safekeeping, accessing, and destruction of the illegal substances.
“The audit team was able to visit and check the new PDEA laboratory evidence room. They were also able to observe features of the evidence room such as the closed-circuit television cameras, fire extinguishers, locks, double doors and grilled walls. The grant of access to a restricted facility is PDEA’s way of showing transparency,” the report read.
On July 27, 2018, government auditors and members of the media were invited onsite at the agency’s facilities in Trece Martires, Cavite to witness the destruction of volumes of dangerous drugs.
CoA said PDEA took steps to ensure the preservation of physical evidence in drug cases including the installation of air conditioning units, dehumidifiers and exhaust fans in the storage areas.
“The PDEA conducts annual physical inventory of evidence where the Philippine National Police and two National Bureau of Investigation personnel are invited to do the inventory. Biometrics readers were also installed outside the evidence room to control the access to the facility,” it said.
At least other disbursement vouchers for airfares worth P9.13 million and liquidation reports for transactions amounting to P13.32 million were found to be inadequately supported by evidence.
“The incomplete documentation of the transactions, aside from non-adherence to existing rules and regulations, rendered difficulty in ascertaining the propriety, necessity and validity of the transactions,” CoA said.
PDEA said it would require its personnel to submit full documentation for travels undertaken and to submit the lacking document to last year’s transactions.
