OVP says P668-K worth of procured equipment passed COA audit

The Office of the Vice President (OVP) said Tuesday that its procurement of over P600,000 worth of equipment, flagged by the Commission on Audit (COA) for failure to observe procedures, had passed COA's audit.

The OVP issued the statement after House Deputy Minority Leader and ACT Teachers party-list Representative France Castro called out the OVP for allegedly “taking shortcuts in procurement rules” in its acquisition of the items for its satellite offices.

“The Office of the Vice President would like to disabuse the imagination of ACT Teachers Partylist and the insinuation that the procurement of OVP Satellite Office equipment amounting to P668,197.20, the cost of which was validated by Commission on Audit and eventually passed the audit, was mired in corruption,” OVP said.

The state auditors, in their 2022 Annual Audit Report, said that the OVP “failed to fully observe the processes and procedures” required under the Procurement Law or Republic Act 9184 and its implementing rules and regulations for purchasing several equipment in its satellite offices totaling to P668,197.20.

“Our audit disclosed that OVP failed to fully observe the processes and  procedures required under the RA 9184 and its IRR in the purchase of its Property Plant and Equipment (PPE) and Semi-Expendable Equipment in satellite offices totaling P668,197.20," COA said.

"The immediate establishment of satellite offices without enough equipment to operate led to Management’s decision to resort in immediate purchase of PPE and semi-expendable property using the cash of its officers, which the OVP subsequently paid through reimbursement,” they added.

Castro had urged the OVP to explain and cooperate with investigators regarding COA's findings, and also called on concerned government agencies to conduct a thorough review of the procurement processes and overall budget of the OVP, the Department of Education (DepEd), and the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), to ensure their compliance with established rules and regulations.

Vice President Sara Duterte serves as the concurrent DepEd Secretary and co-vice chairperson of the NTF-ELCAC.

The congresswoman also said she will bring up the COA issue during the upcoming House deliberations on the OVP's proposed 2024 budget.

“We will not let this pass without proper investigation and accountability. It is our duty to ensure that public funds are spent in a transparent and accountable manner,” Castro said.

“We must uphold the principles of good governance and fiscal responsibility. It is crucial to establish transparency and accountability in all government offices, including the OVP,” she added.

For its part, the OVP said that COA did not issue them a notice of suspension or disallowance over the said procurement.

“For the information of the public and the education of Castro and ACT Teachers Partylist, OVP has maintained an unqualified opinion on its financial statements, and COA did not issue any notice of suspension or disallowance against OVP,” it said.

The OVP, under the leadership of then-vice president Leni Robredo, was granted by COA an unqualified opinion on its financial statements for four consecutive years from 2018 to 2021.

The COA issues an unmodified opinion or unqualified opinion when the state auditor "concludes that the financial statements are prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with the applicable financial reporting framework." — BM, GMA Integrated News