A wakeup call for accountability

The flash report that the Commission on Audit (COA) has been appointed by the World Trade Organization (WTO) as its external auditor complements COA’s capability, earning it a high distinction in the world body.

The appointment, however, does not impress some of us, but instead places COA in an uneasy position after the flood control mess—a financial nightmare marked by alleged widespread connivance in the government bureaucracy involving high-ranking officials and trillions of pesos in lost taxes over years under COA’s watch.

The WTO might look at COA as its effective external auditor, but COA has a broader audit role and responsibilities, encompassing both external audit of government branches and the internal audit systems and control of all government accounts.

COA has jurisdiction over all auditing procedures, including internal audits. Under Section 2 of Presidential Decree No. 898, ”the authority and powers of the Commission on Audit shall extend to and comprehend all matters relating to auditing and accounting procedures, systems, and controls.”

COA should revisit its constitutional mandate on its oversight audit of all government financial transactions. In 2012, the Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling threw out COA’s assertion that it could remove from its function the conduct of preaudit measures. The Supreme Court ruling affirmed that COA cannot remove from its constitutional mandate the responsibility to do preaudit through a mere issuance of its executive circular, because its constitutional mandate covers oversight of all government accounts and financial transactions, wherever they may happen in the bureaucracy.

MARVEL K. TAN,

captbeloytan@gmail.com