The Defense department has ordered the “discontinuance” of a project involving the installation of air-conditioning units in the comfort rooms of the department’s main building in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City, an official said Monday.
The department gave the order after the Commission on Audit called the spending for the project unnecessary.
The commission wants the department to explain its P6.4-million expenditure to renovate and remodel its comfort rooms, complete with six air-conditioning units and nine sets of hot and cold showers.
“In response to the findings, Secretary Delfin Lorenzana has ordered the discontinuance of the renovation project and the removal from the comfort rooms of the air-conditioning units in question, which will instead be used in other approved facilities,” department spokesman Arsenio Andolong said in a statement.
He says the department took note of the commission’s findings on the matter, which it presented and discussed in February.
In a separate statement, Lorenzana said he respected the audit body’s mandate to ensure that government funds were spent properly.
“The COA is the body that evaluates if the people’s money is spent wisely,” Lorenzana said.
“It does not mean that if a project has been approved by Congress, the COA can no longer audit it according to its mandate. It can disallow it or it can raise a red flag that the money has not been used properly.”
The commission earlier said the remodeling and renovation of the comfort rooms violated the procurement law.
