MANILA — The Commission on Audit (COA) may conduct a performance audit before, during, and after the implementation of government projects under the proposed federal Constitution being drafted by President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s Consultative Committee (ConCom) to review the 1987 Constitution.
ConCom senior technical assistant and spokesperson Ding Generoso said that this was among the proposed provisions on Constitutional Commissions set to be voted by the ConCom in an en banc session next week.
Generoso said that because the ConCom felt that the powers of the COA are “not enough,” it has decided to give it “complete” performance audit powers.
“ConCom has expanded the powers and duties of the Commission on Audit (COA), not just financial audit. The COA must also perform performance audit, which involves four parameters — quality, quantity, timeliness, and cost,” he said in a press conference in Pasay City on Thursday.
In other words, Generoso said, the COA will now be mandated to assess and measure not just compliance with laws and audit standards but more importantly, measure the outcome of the project of the government and expenditure.
ConCom member and professor Eddie Alih said the committee also added a pre-audit function for some transactions.
“There are times where COA, after implementation of project, will find it out that it is not in accordance with existing rules of COA. So I think the ConCom has provided for some transactions to undergo a pre-audit to avoid disallowance of transactions,” Alih said.
Generoso clarified that this works for big-ticket projects with national impact to avoid such situations where projects are delayed because of noncompliance with certain procurement and audit requirements.
“While the project is being constructed, the COA can also look into how it is being implemented,” he said. “Hindi makaka-delay yung process yung dinagdagan mo ng (It won’t delay the process of adding) complete performance audit kasi (because) during implementation, pupuwede na tingnan ng COA (COA can already check) if it is compliant with all rules and quality standards.”
Generoso further stressed that the idea is to conduct an audit before, during, and after projects are implemented.
“Hindi yung after na, tapos na, nawala na yung pera, di na natin nalaman kung saan napunta (Not after the project, where the money is already gone, and we don’t know where it went) and it will never allow us to recover any money that is lost,” he added.
Under the 1987 Constitution, the COA is composed of a chairman and two commissioners. However, under the ConCom’s proposed Federal Constitution, it wants to expand the composition to one chairman and four members.
Members are required to be certified public accountants with not less than 10 years of auditing experience, members of the Philippine Bar who have been engaged in the practice of law for at least 10 years, and management experts with extensive experience on quality management and quality standards.