THE Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process on Tuesday denied a report saying the Commission on Audit had questioned its use of P45.3 million to rent vehicles in 2014 without authorization and with dubious supporting documents.
“Actually, it is misleading,” said Luisito Montalbo, the office’s executive director.
“What is important is the recommendation of the resident auditor at the end of the [CoA] report, which is to secure the approval of the Department of Budget and Management for the vehicle rentals. This we have complied with and received DBM approval on September 15, 2015.”
Montalbo said the commission did not disallow the rentals as it even confirmed the office’s compliance with an executive order that required “ad hoc agencies with specific tasks to perform” to merely rent and not purchase vehicles.
“The report was intended to strengthen and tighten procedures,” Montalbo said.
He said his office operates on a national scale but has no regional offices or facilities to address operational needs.
Montalbo cited as the legal basis for his office’s vehicle rentals the Administrative Code of 1987 that, he says, allows those expenditures because those are “more economical, expedient and convenient than outright purchase.”
He said his office is an ad hoc body created under Executive Order 125, series of 1993, as amended by Executive Order 3, series of 2001.
“It is really per transaction, per need, that we rent vehicles,” Montalbo said.
“We have to deploy staff for site visits, community consultations etcetera, so for those purposes we do not have a choice but to rent vehicles.
“[The office] also needs to rent motor vehicles for the use of the peace bodies under the Mindanao peace process, including the International Monitoring Team and other ceasefire monitoring mechanisms.”