THE FLOOD CONTROL brouhaha would have been avoided if only the Commission on Audit had enough qualified personnel to execute the agency’s mandate — to examine, audit, and settle all government accounts, ensuring fiscal accountability and promoting good governance.
In what appears to be a lame excuse aimed at preventing COA from being dragged into the flood control scandal, acting assistant director Tracy Ann Sunico blamed the predicament hounding the agency – lack of state auditors.
Grilled by the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee headed by Senator Panfilo Lacson, Sunico admitted flood control anomalies slipped past their scrutiny.
“Dalawa lang ang audit team member,” Sunico replied when asked by Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian why COA failed to detect the irregularities in the conduct of the infrastructure development projects particularly in Bulacan, where most were found to be either substandard or non-existent.
Gatchalian described COA as the “last safeguard” against corruption, which could have prevented the flood control fiasco at the Bulacan First District Engineering Office (DEO).
“Sa pagka intindi ko po sa isang district office, mayroon ho silang power na magplano, gumawa ng detailed engineering, sila na rin nagpapa-bid, sila na rin po nag-iinspect at nagbabayad,” the pointed out.
“Kapag nagbayad, papasok ang COA sa post-audit level. So, ibig sabihin, kahit may ghost project, madi-detect ng COA sa post-audit level,” he added.
To this Sunico replied: “Supposedly to be po.”
Gatchalian then questioned why the Commission’s auditing team in Bulacan failed to flag projects that were reported as nearly complete just days after the project had started.
He cited a case where a project was reported as 46 percent complete just two days after the Notice to Proceed (NTP) and 89 percent complete after only 86 days.
The legislator also mentioned a separate river bank protection structure along Pampanga River in Barangay Bulusan, Calumpit, Bulacan, that was declared 89 percent complete only 15 days after the NTP was issued.
“Kayo ho nakita nyo po itong mga dokumentong ito?” Gatchalian asked Sunico.
The state auditor asserted then that the DEOs did not submit disbursement vouchers and supporting documents, so auditors only relied on the report on publicized government program projects and activities to have a grasp on the projects’ progress.
“Dahil hindi pa nga mag-submit, na-compel po si auditor na mag-issue ng notices of disallowance primarily dahil may indication na po ng fraud,” she averred, in reference to Bulacan resident auditor Cinderella Esperanza Santos.
Santos however didn’t show up at the Senate hearing. The excuse — she’s down with a flu.
Sunico explained that from 2020 to 2023, the government imposed pandemic restrictions, but the auditing team tried to inspect the projects as early as 2022.
She further quantified that auditors struggled with a shortage of manpower, after around a hundred plantilla positions were removed in the agency in 2023.
“Sir dadalawa lang po iyong audit team… Ibig ko sabihin, mayroon po tayong audit team leader, isa lang din po ang kanyang audit team member. Aside from Bulacan First DEO, on which case from 2022 nasa 120 or 140 po iyong flood control projects po nila, lumobo po sila ng 2023 and 2024 by double po ng numbers, sa flood control projects lang yun sir,” Sunico claimed.
“In 2023, sa budget ng COA for 2023, nagbawas po ng plantilla position by 100+ employees supposed to be na dapat ma-deploy sa auditing agencies. Kaya po ang distribution lang po ng bawat audit team na mabibigat, nasa two auditors lang po,” she further clarified.
In addition, it was learned that CoA also has limited officials assigned per province, like Central Luzon—which has drawn attention this year over flood control issues—covers seven provinces but is served by only 16 technical specialists.
“Sa Bulacan, isa or dalawa lang po ang assigned, kaya hindi niya po ma-inspect lahat,” she stressed to emphasize the need for reinforcement through more team members for the Commission.
Sen. Gatchalian, however, rejected the manpower issue as the main reason the flood control scam slipped past CoA.
“Parang hindi po katanggap-tanggap na because of lack of manpower, lumagpas ito ng ilang years. Kasi di ba every end of the year, may exit conference. Sasabihin sa ‘yo lahat ng deficiency doon, kapag di mo nagawa, next year puro disallowance.”
He also raised the possibility that some auditors could have been complicit.