No COA prohibition against mobile phone, tablet procurement – LTO

The Land Transportation Office (LTO) on Friday clarified that the Commission on Audit (COA) did not prohibit the LTO from procuring mobile devices flagged by state auditors as "expensive."

The COA had flagged LTO branches in National Capital Region (NCR) and Region 4A for spending as much as P3.98 million in the purchase "expensive" mobile phones, and for spending excessively on prepaid loads. 

In their annual audit report on the Department of Transportation, of which the LTO was an attached agency, state auditors noted that of the P3.98 million, P3.3 million was used in the purchase of mobile phones while the rest was spent on prepaid loads—all deemed unnecessary and excessive under COA Circular No. 2012-003 and considered non-responsive to the government's call for judicious and prudent use of government funds and/or resources.

The P3.3 million expenditure on mobile phone purchases was broken down to:

• 24 units of I Phone 6 plus each with 128-gigabyte storage worth P1.3 million (2015)
• six units of I Phone 6 plus each with 128-gigabyte storage worth P259,740 (2016)
• six units of I Phone 6 plus each with 128-gigabyte storage worth P263,940 (2017)
• five units of I Phone 7 each with 128-gigabyte storage worth P219,950
• 22 units of I Pad mini each with 64-gigabyte storage worth P611,600; and
• 46 units of other mobile phones worth P660,769.

The LTO clarified that the procurement of P3.9 million worth of mobile devices flagged by the COA as “expensive" actually spanned a three-year procurement period, starting CY 2015 until CY 2018, with most of the devices bought in 2015 before the present administration took office.

"The procurement was initiated by the former Regional Director of the NCR in CY 2015, for a total of 41 cellular phones and 22 tablets," the LTO explained.

Of the cellular phones purchased, 24, along with the 22 tablets, were bought by the LTO-NCR in 2015.

In 2016, the LTO said another six cellular phones were purchased. In 2017, the LTO-NCR procured another 11 devices.

"All cellular phones were assigned to LTO-NCR officials, with their respective Property Accountability Receipt (PAR)," the office explained.

Better, dependable communication

Furthermore, the land transport agency noted that the procurement of mobile devices was necessary for the efficient dispensation of the LTO’s functions by allowing for better and more dependable modes of communication and coordination, such as teleconferencing and other internet-operated applications such as Viber and emails, which were otherwise inaccessible to older models of communication devices.

"Further, the LTO-NCR clarifies that it has not issued any prepaid load to officers and personnel in the last two years," the office emphasized. "Communications expenses are being charged against the personal funds of the employees."

For Region IV-A, the LTO said the reported total amount of P660,769.92 for 2018 in the COA report, or an average amount of P55,064.16 per month, was for 26 post-paid cellular phones for the Region’s officials.

The amount translates to P2,117.85 per cellular phone, which is a reasonable amount considering the bulk of transactions in Region IV-A, and the need for a reliable and fast connection to immediately respond and communicate in this fast-changing digital age.

"Fully aware of its history, the agency under the Duterte administration has been most careful in its utilization of funds. Measures have been implemented to ensure judicious and prudent use of taxpayers’ money and other government resources, especially for communication purposes," the LTO said.

Nevertheless, the agency said that it had substantially complied with the COA’s recommendations in the Audit Observation Memorandum regarding the distribution of communications equipment and cellular loads.

The LTO further emphasized that its top management had complied with COA’s recommendation to provide specific legal authority for the grant of post-paid plans."

"The LTO is in constant dialogue with COA, and is open to further recommended actions, should there be any." — John Ted Cordero/DVM, GMA News