‘Disallowance’: COA flagged some 2K DPWH expenses over last 10 years
Amid the allegations of massive corruption involving flood control projects, the Commission on Audit (COA) on Thursday said it had issued 1,985 notices of disallowance covering billions of pesos worth of questionable expenditures of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) over the past decade.
The commission defines a disallowance as the “disapproval in audit of a transaction, either in whole or in part.”
‘Ghost projects’
COA Chair Gamaliel Cordoba gave the figure during a hearing of the House committee on appropriations, after Kamanggagawa party list Rep. Eli San Fernando raised concerns that some “ghost projects” may have eluded scrutiny by state auditors.
“For the past 10 years, the COA has issued against the DPWH 8,294 notices of suspension amounting to P303.68 billion; 1,985 notices of disallowance amounting to P5.8 billion; and 54 notices of discharge totaling P8.8 million,” Cordoba told lawmakers.
All regions
Unlike a disallowance, the commission explained that a suspension is “a temporary disallowance and refers to transactions or accounts which appear illegal, improper or irregular unless satisfactorily justified by the concerned officers or until the requirements on matters raised in the course of audit are submitted or complied with.”
A notice of discharge is issued when a government agency needs to explain discrepancies or alleged irregularities that crop up in audit findings.
Cordoba did not specify the flagged transactions but said the irregularities covered DPWH projects in all regions.
Fraud audit
Earlier this week, the COA filed five Fraud Audit Reports on flood control projects implemented by the 1st District Engineering Office of the DPWH in Bulacan.
The reports found irregularities in projects located at barangays Frances, Sta. Lucia, Bulusan, Buguion, Sergio Bayan, Balite, San Marcos and Palimbang, all in Calumpit town; and at Piel in Baliwag town.
The projects were awarded to Wawao Builders, St. Timothy Construction Corp. (the company owned by contractor Sarah Discaya), and SYMS Construction Trading.
Finished on paper
Wawao Builders had two projects worth P151.24 million, St. Timothy also got two costing P135.69 million, while SYMS secured a contract worth P55.73 million.
The COA discovered, for example, that the project in Barangay Frances was already declared 100-percent finished on paper, but the structure on-site remained incomplete with only 77.9 meters built out of the total 124-meter length specified in the contract.
