by Yvonne T. Chua
VERA Files
Unliquidated cash advances of national government agencies and local government units have ballooned to P10 billion, prompting the Commission on Audit to restore the pre-audit of select government transactions starting next month.
The COA said it was restoring the practice of pre-audit in a bid to check what it described as the “rising incidents of irregular, illegal, wasteful and anomalous” releases of public money and disposal of government property.
The pre-audit, which scrutinizes transactions before funds are released and recorded in the government’s books, was discontinued in 1995. It was entrusted to internal auditors who are employees of the agency they examine. COA auditors were restricted to post-audit work.
Click here (VERA Files) for the complete article.
P10 Billion? See how much it could have fed the Filipinos. At bakit ngayon lang nag-iingay ang COA? We must watch out the last year she’s in office. Tuloy-tuloy at marami pa ang nanakawin.
As if auditors do not share in the loot. Now, that is only expanding the tongpats to include them.
That’s why COA is called Commission of Arroyo.
Sa mga taong tanga o walang alam na nais maging pangulo si Noli de Castro, pakibasa lang po ito:
De Castro asked to account for P400-million Pag-Ibig ads
“…Pag-Ibig Fund could have used the amount to build 400 million houses for the poor.”
http://www.tribune.net.ph/metro/20090706met1.html
“Knowledge is Power” – Sir Francis Bacon
I think COA people just want to share in the pies.
A wealth of information about transactions in each and every branch of government are available from COA, but i think they are not just available for anyone. You’ve got to go through a whole lot of beureaucracy to obtain what you think is available from them. They cover with the same tactics of saying ‘they are confidential’. They issue this annual audit report on each and every govt agency, but i wonder who takes care about it or what happens after rendering adverse findings.
Transparency is the answer. With technology nowadays, they can just publish or post on their web any adverse findings from audit, so people know and should go from there.
kung ano ang puno ay siyang bunga. Maging sa mga retiradong militar ay nagkalat pa rin ito, at lalo na sa malakanyang at sa kongreso!
jocjoc, tama ka. Paparte rin ang COA maski papano, hahaha.
Ang mga hangal at dayukdok ay pupula nanaman ang hasang. Ang daming ayusan nito at katakot-takot na bayaran.
Ellen,
“Subject to pre-audit…
• Cash advances except those for payroll, intelligence funds, petty cash funds and those given for local travel expenses of officers and employees.”
It’s well known that intelligence fundes are not subject to pre-audit. The drawer is full of funds from which intel agencies draw almost limit. Fair enough.
But that’s not the point. The COA is incapable of doing more than what it’s required to d because of certain tricks that our intel guys, at least, where the military is concerned, perform come audit time.
What happens is that heads of agencies or AFP major service commanders who have the titular responsibility for those funds juggle with those funds in the same way they juggle with intel.
If an intel chief feels that he cannot explain where a certain portion of the funds went, i.e., justify, he would put a pile of papers (pseudo receipts, etc.) in an envelope and mark it top secret, i.e., expenses that were incurred for highly top secret intel operations.
The poor COA officer cannot open that envelope and presto: the envelope is then destroyed. That envelope could contain “worth” hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of expenses — spurious and genuine — and there’s nothing the COA could do to inspect it because the contents have been declared not only classified but also “top secret.”
It’s all a trick. The money disappears and there’s nothing anybody could do about it.
This is one of the ways that a major service commander does to circumvent full audit and its one of the well-known “intel” tricks that enables major service commander and his staff to “produce” money for some “contingencies” without the prying eyes of the COA.
Part of that “top secret” operations expenses could very well have gone into that commander’s pocket, say, for travel expenses of his wife or children and or could have been used to fullfill that all-time military “command” given from higher level at one time or the other, eg., CSAFP, to <PRODUCE!”, etc., etc.
Ellen, ask any one who has been with A-2, G-2, N-2, J-2 and he can confirm this… I kid thee not!
This has been a practice since time immemorial at the AFP.
Military folks who have worked with any of those major service command intel cannot deny that this happens all the time.
Ellen, if someone from any major service command of the AFP (A-2, G-2, N-2) or from J-2 says it isn’t true, then he is shitting you.
One of the sources of funds used for the treatment, hospitalisation, medication abroad (in the US) of the late Mrs de Villa, wife of former SND de Villa came from intel funds.
And if those guys who served under him says it ain’t true, you can call him a liar to his face.
Have more stories of how intel funds were used for private expenses but that will be for another time.
And if I’m not mistaken, same modus operandi in the police and in the PSG… Heh! Ask former LtGen Calimlim!
Angelo Reyes was very good at it…
Gen. Calimlim is dead. I think he was among the more decent Generals.
Ang AFP Major Commands of Unit 2 means intelligence unit. Diyan ang pera. Marami sa mga sundalo ang nais na ma-assign sa intelligence groups. Hindi lang pera…makakapatay ka ng tao na may lusot.
If, as widely known, military intelligence is an oxymoron and Groucho Marx calls it a contradiction in terms, why must intelligent taxpayers tolerate the theft of intelligence funds?
Gen Joey Calimlim is dead?
Well, sorry to hear that… Ellen can no longer ask him if he is dead. Pity. Hate to malign the dead — “decent” is a very very generous praise.
Neonate,
These things happened too during your stint — just that they weren’t caught or as things would have it, the military was really in combat mode at the time so plenty of things were overlooked but today’s military? All they do is march to the rhythmn of Gloria’s cadence.
Angie Reyes expertise was in the “production” work in his unit…(and we all know what “production” means in intel terms.)
Esperon has not really seen combat. He specialised in bodyguard work.
Nasabi kong more decent si Gen. Calimlim kasi mas okay siya compared to other Generals. Umiyak si Calimlim nang napatalsik si Erap noon.
Maraming mga Generals ngayon na nagtatamasa ng biyaya ang hindi man lang naranasan ang combat at na-assign sa Mindanao. Tutoo iyan.
Unliquidated funds? Lumang tugtugin na. Pihado kandarapa na ang mga unggoy ng paggawa ng mga pekeng resibo to justify the unliquidated funds. Sino bang niloloko nila? At bakit naman nagpapaloko ang sambayanang pilipino? Iyan ang tanong!
Komo umiyak siya nang mapatalsik si Erap, decent na siya. I doubt. Kasi di siya nakakulong!!!
Sumasaludo pa nga siya doon sa pekeng presidente na peke ang mukha, suso, etc. 😛
Dodong,
I knew LtGen Joey Calimlim.
Tears? He should have defended the palace with his life instead.
He should have defended the palace with his life instead when Erap was under siege. No ifs no buts. Erap was the duly elected president, impeachment was going on, why the coup d’état.
By allowing the ouster of Erap illegally, senior officers who took part in the coup d’état instead of coming to the defence of their commander in chief were guilty of violating the Constitution and were complicit in a major crime.
“De Castro asked to account for P400-million Pag-Ibig ads
“…Pag-Ibig Fund could have used the amount to build 400 million houses for the poor.”
HAHAHAHAHAH! Hindi ba marunong ng arithmetic iyang si De Castro? Hahahah.
I know Pinas is not in good economic shape (despite Gloria’s denials) but to say 1 house = 1 peso????… hihihi!
(I will order 1,000 houses immediately — no, make that 100,000 houses na kaagad, kung totong you can build one real bahay for one peso! Heh! Baka naman he meant, houses the size of a matchbox? Heh!)
@Adebrux
nakakatawa iyang gusto ni De Castro.
If the spirit of pre-audit is enforced, for sure there wont be sidetrips anymore.
What do you expect from a government headed by a number one cheat! Siyempre lahat ng aso eh kailangang may tongpats din! Ang lagay si Boobuwit lang at ang kanyang fat pig and general kurakots and her tongressmen ang magpakasasa sa kaban?
Noli with unliquidated money? No wonder he can afford to buy an over 50 million house for a mistress (daw)! Daig pa niya si Erap!
Mumbaki, totoong picture mo ba yan?
How many cases referred by COA to Office of Ombudsman for investigation? How many crooks are sent to prison? Scam con artist Joc-Joc Bolante and other Arroyo cronies are untouchables. Inutile ang COA at Ombudsman o tuta ni Gloria.
Nananakot lang ang COA. Gusto din lang may cut!
Until we jail these looters and get back all their looted assets and ban them from running for any public office ever again, these vultures will never learn. Electing them to office is like giving them a licence to steal everything that comes their way. Mga masisiba. But it is our system that is so defective. All our institutions are corrupted. We have all the laws but if a big fish is caught, the laws can not be implemented. The lwas are only for the small guys!
psb,
Magkakaiba pa ba sila?
Iisa lang ang kanilang kulay, amoy at ninanasa.
Pera, salapi, datung, kuwarta.
Dagdagan n’yo pa.
Kaya nga sa 2010 kung tuloy ang elections, pipili tayo ng mga hindi trapo. The problem is, look at the two top presidentiables per the recent survey, Noli and Villar. Parehong corrupt! Mukhang hindi marunong mamili ang mga Pilipino. Ok sa kanila ang magaling magnakaw at mag-sinungaling!
psb,
naniniwala ka rin ba sa survey na ‘yan? ‘yun bang opinyon ng sabihin nating sampung libong tao (kung meron ganayang karami silang tinatanong) ay opinyon ng buong sambayanan?
hayaan natin sila sa kanilang kahangalan. sila naman ang nagiging katawatawa, hindi tayo.
Starch, kahit na isang libo lang ang sample ng survey, scientific yan ang I usually rely on them. I have a technical background and I know how these surveys are done. Huwag lang dadayain.
Starch, kahit na isang libo lang ang sample ng survey, scientific yan ang I usually rely on them. I have a technical background and I know how these surveys are done. Huwag lang dadayain.
Gen Calimlim was one of Tabako’s men inside malakanyang during the time Erap was maligned by gloria, the grafted and implant president.
Tama si Anna. Kung disente siya, alam niyang duly elected president si Erap, hindi niya basta hahayaang bastusin ng bastos na babae ang opisyal na tirahan ng punong ehekutibo. Namatay siyang baon ang piping ngitngit ng sambayanan.
Paano pa nga ba maipagtatanggol ng patay na ang kanyang naging hakbang?
psb,
Meron pa bang hindi dinadaya ngayon? Kung tungkol sa popularidad ng mga kupal na ‘yan ang pag-uusapan? Pera lamang ang katapat ng report at surveys na ‘yan.
Wala akong bilib sa ganyan. Madaling baguhin ang tunay na opinyon ng kanilang tinatanong, eh. Depende sa ibinayad.
Starch, kailangang may pagbasehan ang mga kandidato. Unfortunately, this is the only way a candidate can measure the success of their campaign tactics.
Psb,
Kung ganu’n pala, halimbawa pinalabas ko sa survey na almost 50% ang pabor sa iyong nilapitan kong tatlo at kalahating tao, batayan na ‘yun kahit hindi totoo?
Alam mo’y dapat matalas din ang pakiramdam ng isang kandidato gayundin ang kanyang mga campaign leaders. Dapat dama nila ang pulso ng mga botante.
Inihaw, hindi rin natin matutulusan ang kapalaran ng isang kandidato lalo’t ang puhunan ay kapal ng bulsa, tapang ng hiya, anghang ng dila at platapormang hindi magagawa.
what’s new? yun pa lang ang may records siguro. how about the unreported ones? a roughly PHP40B, at the least, goes to corruption annually.
what can you expect from a government whose primary business is plunder? the arroyo administration masters the art of corruption and the science of covering up for its crime…
Rufi,
Ombusdman Gutierrez herself admitted that P300B of the annual budget goes to corruption. I agree with her statement because the ADB & World Bank also says 30% of our budget goes to kickbacks. 30% of one trillion annual budget = P300B.
Rufi…Ombusdman Gutierrez herself admitted that P300B of the annual budget goes to corruption?
TonGuE-tWisTeD,
Obvious talaga…e bakit wala silang maipakulong? Inutil yang Ombudsman…walang binatbat, ngayon admitted ang corruption sa gobyerno de bobo ng rehime e wala silang magandang rapport.
Wag na silang magsalita kundi rin nila maresolve ang kurapsyon sa bansa, selective sila sa pagpataw ng batas…
hmmm, looks like things are getting dearer now. before, the norm for tongpats is 10%, according to informed sources. now, it has risen to 30%.
but i bet, for those officials in high places the tongpats can even go 100% (at least).
Gen Calimlim ang humawak ng Task Force Aduana na pinalitan ng PASG na hawak ni Villar. kung ang mga tuta ay nagkakamal ng sobrang salapi eh di lalo na ang aso. malinis ba si calimlim?
Gen. Calimlim has passed away. He is not in a position to defend himself. So it’s unfair for us to be impute bad things to him. Nor should we romanticize his record as a military officer.
As much as possible, maybe we should not be mentioning his name.
Starch, in surveys, a lot depends on the reputation of the firm doing the surveys. Pulse Asia so far remained credible.
There have been questions about SWS in the 2004 exit polls. They admitted their mistakes.
I have some questions about their latest poll commissioned by Villar (he topped it.)
The other surveys firms, I don’t take them seriously.
Is it not that before the end of the elected officials term dapat ma account ang mga cash advances? Hindi ba at the end
of the fiscal year dapat accounted ang lahat?
Ellen, that’s my point.
Kaya din hindi ako naniniwala sa karamihang survey na ‘yan ay dahil sa hindi naman parepareho ang opinyon ng tao bukod pa sa ang opinyon ay hindi maaaring maging tbatayan ng pinal na desisyon. Maaari pang magbago dahil alam naman nating mapagmatayag din ang tao sa bawat kilos at gawain at sinasabi ng mga kandidato. Mapuwera nga lamang kung ang kinauukulan ay walang pagpapahalaga sa kanyang karapatan at ipinagpapalit sa konting pampalubag loob o ipinagbibili sa konting barya.
Ang rule sa cash advances sa gobyerno ay simple – No new cash advance should be given unless the previous one is first settled or liquidated. Ngayon, sino ang mga nagpalusot/nagapprove ng mga patong patong na mga cash advances, e bakit hindi mga kasuhan? Ay nawala nga pala ang mga rules sa rehimen ni Goryang. The only true rule sa kanya ay Money RULES!