Saturday, August 23, 2008 State auditors not infallible: Capitol
“THE Commission on Audit (COA) is not infallible.”
Capitol information consultant Rory Jon Sepulveda yesterday criticized state auditors for insisting in their annual report for 2007 that the dancing inmates received “bonuses” from the Province.
“The term used by the Capitol from day one was ‘donation’ or ‘cash incentive’ to the inmates. It’s only COA that termed it as an anniversary bonus,” Sepulveda said in a press conference yesterday.
Sun.Star Cebu tried but failed to get a comment from Helen Hilayo, state auditor. An employee at COA 7 said that she went to Manila in the afternoon to attend an important affair.
The COA 7, in its annual report released Thursday, questioned the release of an “anniversary bonus” to inmates of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation
Center (CPDRC) worth more than P3 million.
Donations
At least 1,600 inmates of the CPDRC received P1,000 each during the Province’s 438th founding anniversary last year.
Provincial Budget Officer Emmy Gingoyon clarified, however, that the inmates did not get an anniversary bonus but “an award or incentive.”
In his reply to the COA 7 report, Gingoyon explained that the appropriation for the inmates was classified as “donations” and not bonuses.
Citing Sections 17 and 465 of Republic Act 7160, Gingoyon said the incentives for the inmates were “valid and legal.”
In their report, however, the auditors said the “donations, incentive, award, Christmas or anniversary bonuses” granted to provincial inmates were not supported by laws.
Sepulveda theorized that the state auditors thought the cash incentive was a “bonus” since it was given during the Province’s anniversary last year.
“For whatever reason, in good or bad faith, we don’t know,” said Sepulveda of COA’s choice of term.
Legal basis
Sepulveda also said the donation to inmates had legal basis, since it was distributed based on the two approved supplemental budgets and a resolution from the Provincial Board.
Sepulveda said they are ready to assert their stand in court if state auditors continue insisting that the cash incentive was a “bonus.”
Sepulveda said it was not the first time the auditors misconstrued the release of government funds by Capitol officials.
The Capitol consultant showed reporters copies of two recent court rulings stating that government auditors erred in their annual report.
The Supreme Court (SC) gave due course to the petition for declaratory relief filed by former Cebu governor Pablo Garcia against Provincial Auditor Roy Ursal sometime last June 1998.
The SC declared that the governor “was vested with authority” to disburse the proceeds from the Special Education Fund for the salaries, allowances or honoraria of
teachers and non-teaching personnel in the public schools of the province.
In a separate ruling, the court said that Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia need not secure an authority from the PB before she enters into a deal involving monetary obligations “when there is a prior appropriation ordinance enacted.”
Governor Garcia earlier filed a civil case for declaratory relief against state auditors, questioning a COA 7 annual report that said she must secure a PB resolution before entering into any contract. (GMD)
