COA flags PCOO attached agency over P1.8M meal expenses in meetings sans documentation

The Commission on Audit (COA) has flagged an attached agency of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) for P1.8 million worth of meal expenditures during meetings due to lack of supporting documents.

Based on COA’s annual audit report on Bureau of Broadcast Services, the P1.8 million was spent for meals during various meetings but were not supported with documents that would show the meetings as official—a violation of Presidential Declaration 1445 and COA Circular No. 2012-001.

Section 4.6 of PD No. 1445 states that “claims against government funds shall be supported with complete documentation," while COA Circular No.  2012-001 prescribes that all types of disbursements must be supported with sufficient and relevant documents to establish validity of claims.

“Thus, their legality and reasonableness could not be validated,” the state auditors said.

COA said that aside from Official Receipts and Sales Invoices, the PCOO should have submitted the following to prove that such meal expenses for meetings were actually incurred:

•     Notice of the meeting
•     Agenda
•     Minutes of meeting
•     Attendance Sheet/list of guests and attendees with signature of attendees, if possible
•     photos, video coverage

“The verification made on the DVs (disbursement vouchers) revealed that only certifications and receipts for meals were attached to the voucher to support the P1,830,720.52. Thus, propriety and authenticity of the claim is doubtful,” COA pointed out.

By month, the PCOO-BBS spending for meals for meetings for year 2019 are as follows:

•     P175,817 in January
•     P342,890 in February
•     P71,343 in March
•     P143,013 in April
•     P84,429 in May
•     No record in June
•     P213,702 in July
•     P189,034 in August
•     P134,537 in September
•     P164,344 in October
•     P100,190 in November and
•     P211,415 in December

“If receipts and other documents are not available, the claim for representation expense may be supported by a certification that a meeting was held or an official transaction was conducted,” COA said.

“However, this certification must be corroborated by other supporting documents to attest to the occurrence of an official event. Otherwise it is just a self-serving document,” COA added.

COA recommended that the PCOO-BBS require the responsible officials and the accountant to submit sufficient and relevant documents to support the P1.8 million expenses to avoid being disallowed in audit.

Likewise, COA advised the PCOO-BBS's accountant to strictly adhere to the documentary requirements on all types of disbursements.

PCOO-BBS, in its reply to COA’s findings, assured that they  will submit the lacking documents to support its meal expenses. —AOL/KBK, GMA News