Congress agrees to submit funds to COA audit

MANILA, Philippines - Starting this year, lawmakers will no longer issue mere certificates to liquidate their office funds.

Instead each lawmaker will submit documents to the Commission on Audit (COA) for itemized scrutiny of fund utilization.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. agreed during a meeting yesterday to have Congress’ multibillion-peso budget for maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) scrutinized by the COA.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, chairman of the Senate committee on accounts, and Rep. Bem Noel, his counterpart in the House of Representatives, also attended the meeting, which lasted for two hours.

“We agreed to submit ourselves to the disposition of the COA. We will follow what the COA wants. And COA explicitly expressed that liquidation by certification is no longer accepted, at least prospectively, starting this year,” Lacson said.

The Senate and the House of Representatives have a combined MOOE budget of P4.5 billion for this year.

Lacson said the Senate also submitted its liquidation receipts for 2012 to COA.

MOOE accounts for P1.577 billion of the Senate’sP3.294-billion budget for 2012.

A total of P1.661 billion was allocated for personal services and P55.6 million for capital outlay.

The Senate budget is sub-classified into P545.7 million for locally funded projects (oversight committees), P1.565 billion for general administration and support, and P1.183 billion for operations or legislative services.

The 35 Senate oversight committees were allocated P545.7 million under “locally-funded” projects under its 2013 budget.

Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano, who called for a private audit of Senate funds, said the Senate’s MOOE increased from P759 million in 2008 to P1.57 billion this year.

Under the 2013 national budget, the House of Representatives gets a P6.055-billion budget, which is divided into personnel services (P3.033 billion), MOOE (P2.922 billion) and capital outlay (P100 million.)

Senate employees rally for Enrile

As this developed, Senate employees and staff members of senators held a rally to show their support for Enrile.

Employees of the general services, finance division, secretariat and the offices of Senate President Pro-Tempore Jinggoy Estrada, Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III and senators Ralph Recto, Ramon Revilla Jr. and Lito Lapid gathered in front of the Senate building at noon carrying placards that read: “We are happy with Enrile,” “Senate President, We love you and support you all the way,” “We love you Manong Johnny,” and “No more fighting! Save the Senate!”

Some of the placards were in support of Enrile’s former chief of staff, lawyer Jessica “Gigi” Reyes, who was rumored to have an affair with Enrile.

The placards read “Ma’am Gigi, please be strong for us,” “Atty. Gigi, please don’t leave us,” “The Senate loves you Atty. Reyes,” and “We believe in you Atty. Reyes.”

Simeon Garcia, Estrada’s chief of staff, said the rally shows how much Senate employees support Enrile.

“This is proof that we are happy with Enrile as Senate President,” Garcia said.

“Regardless of the personality concerned, whoever will love and support the employees, we will also respect and love him,” he added.

Garcia said Enrile “brought honor and integrity” to the Senate with his performance during the impeachment trial of former chief justice Renato Corona.