Senators agree to submit to COA audit

MANILA, Philippines - Senators bowed to the Commission on Audit (COA) yesterday, effectively setting aside a resolution that shielded their funds from close scrutiny by state auditors.

Senators will now have to forgo the long-time practice of issuing mere certifications to liquidate their funds.

This means that vouchers, official receipts and other liquidating instruments will now have to be submitted to the COA instead of using certifications for audit purposes.

“We will abide with the order of the COA,” Senate President Pro-Tempore Jinggoy Estrada said after emerging from a caucus that lasted almost two hours yesterday.

Estrada said most senators arrived at the decision because they recognized the power of the COA under the Constitution to scrutinize Senate funds.

“I hope they don’t single out the Senate because there are other agencies of government who also use certification as a means of liquidation.”

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, for his part, said “the Senate, as a collegial body, has agreed to comply with the request of COA at the soonest possible time.”

On concurrent Resolution No. 10, senators have agreed to discuss the matter with their counterparts at the House of Representatives and inform the bigger chamber of the Senate’s decision.

Lacson said Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile had conveyed to Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. the senators’ decision.

“We have no choice because that is the mandate of the COA... it is mentioned that no law shall be passed (exempting any entity of the government... from the jurisdiction of the COA),” Lacson said.

He said the Senate has practiced the submission of certifications since “time immemorial.”

Technically, the concurrent resolution is repealed.

Congress can now formalize to rescind the concurrent resolution by passing another resolution, Lacson said.

But he said the Senate merely wanted to abide with the COA directive.

At this time, Lacson said the Senate accounting office is already collating documents and receipts and other instruments so that these can be forwarded to the COA.

The decision was prompted by the negative public perception arising from the Senate’s use of maintenance, operating and other expenses (MOOE).

During the caucus, Lacson said from 2009 to 2011, the Senate returned to the treasury a total of P227 million in savings.

“I would just like to enlighten you on that, since there are savings, these are re-distributed to the offices of the senators,” he said.

During the caucus, a majority of the senators also slammed minority leader Alan Peter Cayetano’s call for a private audit of Senate funds.

Lacson said the Senate has upheld the stand of the COA that no other body can audit government funds except the COA.

“The letter of COA is clear that there is no auditor that can audit government funds except COA. Implicitly, they say they don’t allow any private auditing firm,” he said.

“Any private firm – even for pro bono services – cannot be binding for the Senate or other offices in government,” Lacson pointed out.

“The government audit will be followed if there will be conflict with private audit and government audit. Rightly so, the Constitution is clear on this,” he said.

Enrile led the caucus yesterday on how senators and congressmen would treat Resolution No. 10, which institutionalized the issuance of certifications in relation to the use of their MOOE.

Senators Miriam Defensor-Santiago and siblings Alan and Pia Cayetano, who are raising hell over the uneven distribution of funds last month, were absent during the caucus.

Also absent were Senators Manny Villar and Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Sources told The STAR over the weekend that in 2010, auditors called the attention of the Senate about the practice of using certifications as liquidation instrument in the use of MOOE.

Amid the issue of Enrile’s uneven distribution of additional MOOE to four senators last Christmas, sources said the Senate invoked Resolution 10 sometime in mid-2011 in response to an audit memorandum issued by its resident auditor. 

This technically tied the hands of government auditors in scrutinizing Senate funds.

Lacson had requested the Senate president for a caucus after he received a letter from COA Chairman Grace Pulido-Tan yesterday,  demanding that the Senate submit itemized audit reports on expenses of senators in recent years.

Saving the institution

Before the caucus, some senators called for a ceasefire as they recognized how the issue of alleged corruption has been hurting the Senate as an institution.

“The public is starting to perceive that the Senate and members of the Senate are all corrupt,” Estrada said.

He noted that it does not look good that the Senate has been conducting inquiries into government anomalies yet it has its own alleged anomaly.

He said he saw nothing wrong with the COA move to compel senators to open their books for scrutiny.

Sen. Edgardo Angara called for a ceasefire so that the Philippines would not be embarrassed before world parliamentarians set to attend the 5th Global Conference of the Global Parliamentarians Against Corruption (GOPAC) in Pasay City.