DBM to review COA report

MANILA, Philippines - Budget Secretary Florencio Abad has formed a team to scrutinize a report by the Commission on Audit (COA) implicating several lawmakers in the alleged misuse of their Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel after errors were found in the document.

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) earlier admitted the mistakes and pointed to some errors in the COA special audit report on the PDAF from 2007 to 2009, including the P3 billion in public works fund wrongly labeled as PDAF disbursed to former Compostela Valley Rep. Manuel “Way Kurat” Zamora.

The DBM panel, Abad said, would also look into the veracity of newspaper accounts on certain budget officials tagged as the contacts of Janet Lim-Napoles when following up fund releases to non-government organizations (NGOs).

“This committee will again comb through the COA report to make sure that its contents are correct and consistent with our records,” Abad said in an interview with radio dzMM.

He said if the committee finds the report on the alleged involvement of some DBM officials true, it would determine the extent of their involvement.

The budget chief said the COA report, contained in 135 pages including annexes, was “very thick.” He said errors could not be avoided.

Former and incumbent lawmakers had criticized the COA for its 2011 report showing that P66 million worth of computers purchased through PDAF were unaccounted for.

The lawmakers denied having bought the computers with their pork barrel funds.

Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr., the budget chief during the previous administration and currently vice chairman of the House committee on appropriations, welcomed Abad’s move.

“At least that would clear things up,” Andaya told The STAR. “But the intention of the audit to expose possible irregularities should not be lost.”

Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr. said it’s only proper to make corrections and look for other errors as the PDAF came under fire owing to the faults of a few.

He said the controversy affected the reputation of senators and congressmen.

“It is very possible that there are more errors as this involves thousands or even greater number of transactions and because we have so many beneficiaries for our PDAF,” Barzaga told The STAR, adding the COA must ensure that its reports are always credible.

 â€“ With Christina Mendez