MANILA – The Commission on Audit (COA) flagged down the Office of the Vice President (OVP) over the delayed submission of travel liquidation reports and excess cash advances of its personnel.
Based on the agency’s 2017 audit report, a total of 33 of Vice President Leni Robredo’s personnel spent P27.4 million for local and foreign trips which were not liquidated within the prescribed period under COA Circular 97-002.
The COA circular prescribes that local and foreign travels must be liquidated within 30 days and 60 days, respectively.
“It was observed that the submission of the OVP personnel’s liquidation reports for the local travels got delayed by two days to more than three months,” COA said.
COA also noted that the same OVP personnel failed to refund their unused or excess cash advances.
Section 5 of COA Circular 97-002 requires the immediate refund of any cash advance no longer needed or has not been utilized for two months.
“Neglect of management to demand the immediate refund of unused/excess cash advances and the submission of liquidation reports within the period prescribed renders inaccuracies in the financial statements,” COA said.
“The delays in accounting signal a flaw in the OVP’s Internal Control System, which may unnecessarily expose government resources to risk of loss or misappropriation,” it added.
As recommendation, the COA told the OVP to strictly enforce the provisions on the liquidation of cash advances and urge its management to sanction any individual who fails to submit within the prescribed period.
The OVP in a statement said it has issued Office Order No. 2018-02 dated Jan. 25, 2018 that established internal control over the office’s spending.
“The OVP has instituted stricter measures to prevent similar delays. Full details of these steps taken by the OVP were communicated to COA in a letter sent in March 2018,” said OVP Undersecretary Boyet Dy. “These include clearer guidelines on the handling of cash advances and the withholding of compensation for accountable staff subject to the full liquidation of advances, consistent with COA’s own recommendations.”/PN
