If there’s a will, there’s a way to end corruption

Bureaucratic corruption will not ease up until the three bodies of the government’s financial institutions parley among themselves on their specific roles in overseeing the government’s vast financial control system.

1) The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) as the financial controller, 2) the Commission On Audit (COA) for the external postaudit, and 3) the financial systems in each of the government offices which are the users of the funds.

1) The DBM provides the authority to use the approved annual budget, and provides financial control guidelines to fund users; the special allotment release orders (SAROs) and notices of cash allocations (NCAs) are the documents it issues to the government offices, delegating accountability for the proper disposition and custody of funds.

2) The various government offices, as fund users, are supposed to comply with the DBM and the COA guidelines.

3) The COA mainly conducts yearly postaudits of transactions. The COA’s post audit serves little to instill fear of criminal prosecution. Cases pile up.

After the DBM has issued the SAROs and the NCAs, the government offices are left to implement projects under their own financial control systems and timelines. The COA demurs from going into preaudit on the premise that it duplicates the operating offices’ independent internal control system.

When offices are left to implement their financial systems at will, we have seen creeping corruption setting in.

Since the DBM is the source of the delegated authority for the operating units to use their budgeted funds, it is in the best position to conduct quarterly and semiannual reviews of the financial operations of each of the government offices as part of its constitutional duty. With quarterly reviews, no anomalies as grave as the flood control mess could be entrenched or remain unnoticed.

If there’s a will, there’s a way to end corruption. The President, through the DBM, can initiate this viable way to end bureaucratic corruption.

MARVEL K. TAN, CPA,

captbeloytan@gmail.com