DOJ: P290-M unliquidated cash advances inacurrate

MANILA, Philippines - A Commission on Audit (COA) report on over P290 million in unliquidated cash advances in the past few years by the Department of Justice (DOJ) is “not updated” and therefore inaccurate, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said yesterday.

The COA report, released last Sept. 19, showed DOJ had P147.42 million unliquidated cash advances last year and P142.72 million from “2011 and prior years” or a total of P290.15 million.

De Lima said DOJ’s Finance Services department has been “promptly complying with the requirements and submitting the necessary liquidation documents to the Commission on Audit Central Office and just awaiting the corresponding Credit Advice.”

A credit advice serves as a clearance or certification that COA has reviewed reports on an agency’s funds and declared these as regular.

The COA report said that of the total figure, P225.05 million went to the Witness Protection Security and Benefit Program (WPSBP) and was listed as “confidential and intelligence expenses.”

Of this amount, P115.53 million was released in 2011 or earlier while P109.52 million worth of disbursements were made in 2012. This was disputed by De Lima.

“We have updated our 2012 records and out of the P290 million unliquidated cash advances, P261.7 million is awaiting Credit Advice from COA-CO and only P15.3 million awaiting compliance from concerned officials/employees,” she said.

“These cash advances would appear in DOJ’s books as unliquidated in the absence of Credit Advice. In short, that report on unliquidated cash advances is not updated,” she added.

The COA has acknowledged that it has not yet issued credit notice for DOJ’s report detailing intelligence fund expenses totaling P218.78 million.

According to the same COA report, the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) had also used up unliquidated intelligence funds worth P18 million and the Office of the Secretary, P25.406 million.