The Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) on Monday denied any irregularity in the procurement of P3.31 million worth of office supplies in 2022.
PAO chief Persida Acosta, in a statement, cited Bureau of Internal Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 2-2014 stating “invoices are principal evidence in the sale of goods and/or properties; official receipts are principal evidence in the sale of derives and/or lease of properties; and commercial receipts/invoices, such as delivery receipts, order slips, purchase orders, provisional receipts, acknowledgment receipts, collection receipts, credit/debit memo, job orders and other similar documents, are supplementary evidence.
Acosta was reacting to a report that the Commission on Audit (COA) has questioned the validity of PAO’s procurement of P3.310,414.42 million worth of office supplies for alleged lack of supporting documents.
Acosta stressed that the COA had already issued an unmodified opinion last March 31 as part of its annual report citing that PAO’s financial statements “are free from material misstatements and are prepared in accordance with the applicable and appropriate financial reporting framework (Section 4 B B.1, COA Financial Audit Manual).”
“Those transactions noted as having no delivery receipts and sales invoices actually have official receipts; those with no sales invoices actually have delivery receipts and official receipts; those without delivery receipts have sales invoices and/or official receipts; and the transaction noted as having no collection receipt/official receipt has a sales invoice and delivery receipt,” she clarified.
“In addition, the items purchased were actually delivered and formed part of PAO’s inventory,” Acosta told the Manila Standard.
She said all the noted lacking documents have already been submitted to COA.