COA official: Mix-up in reports caused impeach crisis

It now turns out that a mix-up on a Commission on Audit (COA) report on the Judiciary Development Fund (JDF) triggered the impeachment crisis that pitted the Supreme Court against the House of Representatives.

A Senate finance subcommittee chaired by Sen. Francis Pangilinan was told yesterday that congressmen who initiated the second impeachment complaint against Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. did so on the wrong assumption that there were irregularities in the use of the JDF, which the high tribunal administers.

Supreme Court resident auditor Cecilia Caga-anan informed the committee, which conducted a hearing on the COA budget, that the House committee on justice had asked her to rush an audit report on the use of JDF money.

"We submitted our report last Sept. 4 but unfortunately, they did not ask us to explain it. Sa Congress (referring to the House) kasi, hindi sila nagtatanong," she said.

She said had congressmen asked her to explain her findings, she would have told them that there were no irregularities in the use of the JDF.

She said the Supreme Court is strictly following the lawful distribution of the money, 80 percent of which is supposed to go to the allowances of court personnel and 20 percent to court equipment and facilities.

Reading from her report, Caga-anan told Pangilinan that one of her findings was that there was a discrepancy of more than P300 million in the "book and bank balances" of JDF funds which are generated from court fees.

This means that collections recorded in the JDF books were lower by P300 million than the actual money deposited in the bank, she said. That is because it takes months, sometimes even more than a year, to reconcile tens of thousands of court transactions for which fees are collected by about 1,400 clerks of court throughout the country, and actual deposits made in various Land Bank branches nationwide, she said.

The money that is in the bank is naturally higher than the amount recorded in the books due to the time lag, she explained.

She pointed out that she would have given the same explanation to congressmen had they asked her to elaborate her audit findings.

What Pangilinan heard from the Supreme Court auditor prompted him to say that the mix-up or confusion on the COA report sparked the impeachment crisis.

"Dahil sa ibang interpretasyon sa report, humantong pa tayo sa constitutional crisis. It’s a good thing that this is now over," he said.

He suggested that auditors should make clearer reports.

"I hope that we have learned our lessons from the events of the past weeks, which have affected us all," he said.

COA Chairman Guillermo Carague said their reports will always be subject to different interpretations.

"If the 10 commandments written by God are being interpreted in many ways, how much more an audit report made by a human being?" he asked.

Caga-anan said congressmen also made their own computations of fund balances contained in the report and arrived at the wrong conclusion that less than 80 percent of JDF funds was allotted for court personnel’s allowances.

The fact is more than 80 percent went to allowances and less than 20 percent to court equipment and facilities, she said.

Responding to a question, the auditor told reporters she did not know why congressmen did not ask her to explain her report.

But Pangilinan surmised that those who moved against Davide were already busy gathering signatures for their impeachment complaint, while the House justice committee was preoccupied with the first complaint filed against Davide and several other justices by allies of ousted President Joseph Estrada.