COA lifts P79.9-M disallowance vs. Laguna

The Commission on Audit (COA) has lifted the notice of disallowance in relation to the cash advances of the Laguna provincial government for intelligence and confidential activities worth P79,942,000 from 2011 to 2013.

In its decision dated January 26, 2018, the COA noted that the Notice of Disallowance (ND) No. 2016-03-002 dated March 2, 2016, relative to the cash advances for intelligence and confidential activities of the province of Laguna for calendar years (CY) 2011 to 2013, in the total amount of P79,942,000.00 was deemed lifted.

This came after Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Unit (ICFAU) director Mario Lipana acknowledged the appeal of former governor Emilio Ramon "ER" Ejercito dated September 2, 2016.

The COA previously noted some discrepancies with the multi-million cash advance on the Audit Observation Memorandum (AOM) numbers AOM-2013-08-6444, AOM-2013-08-6445, and AOM-2013-08-6446. Some of the grounds included in the AOMs were the following:

• It was erroneous for the province to have included maintenance and operating expenses, grants, donations, and monetary assistance in the Peace and Order Program (POP), as they are not peace and order-related activities.
• The submitted liquidation report for the first quarter of CY 2013 was undated.
• A Certification from the Philippine National Police (PNP) of Laguna shows that the province is generally a peaceful community. Futhermore, the certification was dated two months after the cash advance was made.

Ejercito, in response to the AOMs, wrote a letter in October 8, 2013 which was received by the ICFAU.

Former ICFAU director Flerida Jimenez, however, said "the documents submitted by Governor Estregan failed to address the deficiencies noted in the AOMs." Following this, Jimenez issued Notice of Suspension (NS) No. 2014-03-0025 dated March 5, 2014 for the amount of P79,942,000.00. 

Ejercito filed a supplemental comment on the AOMs on May 16, 2014. He also filed another comment on October 22, 2014.

Jimenez said the supplemental comments were "not perused and passed upon as the same could not be located in the files of the province," which prompted her to issue ND No. 2016-03-002.

In his appeal, Ejercito pointed out that "contrary to the ground stressed by Jimenez in issuing the ND, which was the absence of evidence on record to refute the grounds for the issuance of the NS (Notice of Suspension), the ND should be vacated for being ab initio."

Lipana, for his part, said there is a need to re-audit the province's liquidation reports particularly the documents submitted by the former governor on his supplemental comments. —Anna Felicia Bajo/ALG, GMA News