COA seeks P2.2B to revive pre-audit of government projects

The Commission on Audit (COA) said Tuesday that it would need an estimated P2.2 billion and additional personnel to revive the pre-auditing of government projects, as a lawmaker raised the measure following the discovery of alleged ghost flood control projects.

During the House Committee on Appropriations’ deliberations on COA’s proposed 2027 budget, the agency explained that pre-auditing requires a dedicated budget and was previously shelved due to a shortage of personnel.

Baguio City Rep. Mauricio Domogan, however, said pre-auditing, coupled with geotagging, could have helped detect non-existent projects before funds were fully released.

“If again we are serious in addressing this issue of corruption, hindi siguro lulusot ‘yung—kasi kung may pre-audit coupled with geotagging or mapping, talagang maliwanag na nandyan na yung project. Hindi yung ghost projects pagkatapos full payment,” Domogan said.

(If we are truly serious about tackling corruption, these wouldn't slip through because a pre-audit coupled with geotagging or mapping would clearly verify a project's physical existence. We wouldn't be seeing ghost projects receiving full payment.)

COA Chairperson Gamaliel Cordoba said the agency currently lacks the personnel needed to conduct pre-audits and has instead relied on fraud audits after projects have been implemented.

“At present hindi po kaya kasi, Your Honors. Kaya po ang nangyari sa amin, naghabol na lang po kami sa fraud audit, kasi po kulang po talaga kami ng personnel to do it po,” Cordoba said.

(At present, it is not feasible. That's why we have had to rely on fraud audits because we severely lack the personnel to conduct pre-audits.)

Cordoba said COA would need 146 additional pre-audit teams, each composed of several personnel, to fully restore the system.

“We would need additional 146 pre-audit teams composed of several personnel per team… our estimate is about P2.2 billion for pre-audit,” Cordoba told the House panel.

He said COA had already submitted the proposal last year and plans to resubmit it for the current budget cycle.

COA Commissioner Douglas Michael Mallillin said the agency is already using geotagging and coordinating with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to strengthen its implementation.

“We are coordinating po with DPWH, so that yung geotagging requirement and other stricter requirements po ay hindi naman po makasagabal sa kailangan nilang magampanan na proyekto,” Mallillin said.

(We are coordinating with the DPWH so that the geotagging requirement and other stricter measures will not hinder the implementation of necessary projects.)

"We’re looking at ways and means po para lang magkaroon ng continuous audit without exactly it being a pre-audit,” he said.

(We’re looking at ways and means to conduct continuous audits without necessarily making them pre-audits.)

Zero capital outlay

Lawmakers also raised concerns over the absence of capital outlay in COA’s proposed budget.

Akbayan party-list Rep. Perci Cendaña said the zero capital outlay allocation was alarming and urged the restoration of funding to strengthen COA’s capacity, particularly in adopting new technologies.

COA said it continues to train and upskill its personnel using existing resources, but additional capital outlay would allow it to improve its technological capabilities and efficiency.

“Despite the lack of a capital outlay, we do what we can pero mas maganda po kung mapagbigyan kami sa area po na dagdag capital outlay—dagdag opisina, dagdag teknolohiya, dagdag hardware and software po,” Mallillin said.

(Despite the lack of capital outlay, we do what we can, but it would be much better if we were granted additional funding for capital outlay—more offices, improved technology, and additional hardware and software.)

“Mas maganda po ang magiging performance ng audit dahil mag-iiba po ang landscape of how we audit. Hindi na po yung papel ho ang hinahanap namin. Ang mangyayari po is magiging analytic po ang mga auditors po natin,” he added.

(The performance of our audits will improve significantly because the way we conduct audits will change. We will no longer just look for paper trails; our auditors will become more analytical.)

COA also appealed for updated regulations that would allow it to digitize document storage instead of maintaining physical copies.

Cordoba said the commission is running out of storage space despite acquiring a new building.

“We are required to keep the documents for 10 years. Actually po, medyo nahihirapan kami dun kasi physical ang nakalagay… nagkaroon po kami ng bagong building but kinukulang pa rin po,” Cordoba said.

(We are required to keep the documents for 10 years. We are finding it difficult because the records are required to be stored physically. We acquired a new building, but we are still running out of space.) —VBL, GMA News