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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider COA: P174.28-M worth of Philippine passports now obsolete

COA: P174.28-M worth of Philippine passports now obsolete

Published Aug 9, 2021 11:39 am

Over P174.28 million worth of blank passports have been deemed obsolete and ordered by the Commission on Audit (COA) to be subjected to impairment allowance.

Passport

In its 2020 Annual Audit Report of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), COA also noted that 14 government properties abroad valued at P1,240,454,054.34 were not recognized in the books of accounts of the department resulting in the understatement of property accounts by the said amount.

According to COA there are 65 diplomatic and consular government-owned properties administered by the DFA that have been documented correctly.

Among the properties identified but were not recognized in the accounting books were the Chancery and Official Residence in Canberra, Australia valued at P45.6 million and P57 million respectively; official residence in Chicago, Illinois in US, P8,905,280; official residence and consulate office in Hong Kong at P11.8 million and P605.17 million respectively; Honolulu land at P6.63million;; and chancery; official residence in Islamabad, Pakistan, P233.06 million; and chancery in Port Moresby, P173.89 million.

In Tokyo, Japan, the Philippines owns a chancery worth P24.53 million; residence, P25 million and old chancery, 48.75 million.

COA asked the DFA to record the appropriate value of the properties, noting that “improper identification and classification of accounts” affect the accuracy of monthly computation of depreciation expenses.

The audit report disclosed that 465,367 blank passports with an aggregate cost of P174,289,540.82 are represented as “obsolete, unissued” yet are still recognized in DFA’s as of the end of 2020.

The non-issuance of the blank passports were caused by the Philippines compliance to the International Civiil Aviation Organization’s standards and the “need to secure the integrity of Philippine Passports.

Thus, the DFA adopted recent technological developments in the production and the security of ePassports by shifting to the issuance of personalized e”Passports.

“Consequently, unissued blank passports were no longer used and became obsolete,” the COA explained.

Related Tags

Philippine passports PH government diplomatic and consular offices Commission on Audit (COA) Department of Foreign Affairs
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