Briones questions COA’s scope of work for 'editing' DepEd textbooks

Department of Education Secretary Leonor Briones wants a review of the scope of Commission on Audit's work after it included in its audit report some editorial comments on DepEd's textbooks.

At Wednesday's  hearing of the Senate committee on basic education, arts and culture, Briones admitted there are grammatical errors in their textbooks but claimed some errors are just a matter of writing style.

“I will not argue with grammatical errors. But how about style? How about usage” Briones said.

ACT Teachers party-list Representative France Castro and committee chair on basic education Senator Sherwin Gatchalian slammed DepEd over some errors in the textbooks as reported by COA.

Briones questioned the inclusion of editorial comments in the audit report, adding that experts on diction and style should be doing it.

She cited COA’s observation on the usage of the phrase “nakatungtong sa Pacific Ring of Fire” in a textbook, which COA corrected with “nakapaloob sa Pacific Ring of Fire.”

According to Briones, it is only a matter of writing style.

Briones, a former COA secretary, expressed her concern over the old code of the commission that was formulated in 1970s.

She said these reports are just COA’s audit observations, which means they are subject to explanation and justification by the concerned agency, in this case, DepEd.

“Should we include editorial comment on COA’s audit report and dramatize it on the front page?” she said.

Briones claimed that they have already submitted a written response to the audit observations and answered issues point by point. She claimed that the COA found their explanation credible during the hearing. —Joviland Rita/LBG, GMA News