COA explains special audit on pork barrel

This is in reaction to the column of Mr. Federico D. Pascual Jr. entitled “Lying, credit grabbing on COA audit of PDAF” which appeared in the Philippine STAR on June 26, 2014.

The Special Audit of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and Various Infrastructure including Local Projects (VILP) was authorized by then Commission on Audit (COA) Chairman Reynaldo A. Villar through COA Office Order No. 2010-309 dated May 13, 2010.

Audit commenced on June 15, 2010 by a team led by Gloria D. Silverio as over-all audit team leader under the supervision of then Director Susan P. Garcia of the Special Audits Office which is under the direct functional authority of the Chairperson.

Field work, validations, and actual audit execution were conducted from the time Chairperson Maria Gracia M. Pulido Tan assumed office in 2011, and were completed towards the end of 2012. Analysis and report writing, which were directly supervised by Chair Tan, were completed in June 2013.

The Audit Report, denominated as Special Audits Office Report No. 2012-03, was transmitted to the Department of Budget and Management on August 14, 2013.

In conformity with standard operating rules of the Commission, the Report was signed by Director Garcia, Over-all Audit Team Leader Silverio, and the team members.

Certainly, the leadership provided by Chair Tan, and her direct supervision of the team in the analysis and report writing phase, led to this groundbreaking work of the Commission that has since contributed significantly to radical changes and events involving the congressional pork barrel.

We, at the Commission, are grateful for the hard and diligent work of the Audit Team, and the support of the Filipino people. Rest assured that we shall continue to faithfully serve the people through our adherence to truth and the highest standards of our profession.

In the spirit of fairness, I hope this letter sees print to air COA’s side in this issue. — JONATHAN B. BELTRAN, Director, PIO, Commission on Audit