'Hindi po exempted ang House': Chamber not remiss with COA submissions, says Dalipe
At A Glance
- The House of Representatives knows that it is not "exempted" when it comes to auditing by the Commission on Audit (COA), Majority Leader Zamboanga City 2nd district Rep. Mannix Dalipe said.
House Majority Leader Zamboanga City 2nd district Rep. Mannix Dalipe (Screenshot from Zoom)
The House of Representatives knows that it is not "exempted" when comes to auditing by the Commission on Audit (COA).
This was underscored by House Majority Leader Zamboanga City 2nd district Rep. Mannix Dalipe during a recent radio interview.
“Malinis po ‘yung reporting, ang auditing na hinihingi po ng [COA]. Hindi po exempted ang House of Representatives. Nagsa-submit po kami sa mga hinihingi ng [COA], sina-submit po namin lahat,” Dalipe said.
(The reporting, the auditing that the COA is seeking is clean. The House of Representatives isn't exempted from this. We submit what the COA asks from us, we submit them all.)
Dalipe cited a COA certification dated Oct. 2, 2023, which bared that as of Sept. 30, 2023, the House had no notices of suspension, disallowance, or charge.
Further underscoring the House's financial health is a COA report published last July 6 highlighting the House's budget surplus of P4.69 billion in its 2022 allocations, the majority leader said.
“Lahat ng kailangan na i-submit ng House of Representatives, lahat ng kung anong kailangan i-liquidate, ginagawa po ‘yan, nirereport ng House of Representatives sa [COA],” said Dalipe, a Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) stalwart.
(Everything that the House needs to submit, everything that has to be liquidated, we do that, the House of Representatives reports it to COA.)
He said the COA audit process has been extended to all 312 House members, with no suspensions, disallowances, or notices of charge found.
Dalipe’s statements were a response to allegations made by former president Rodrigo Duterte suggesting that Congress was not being subjected to COA audits.
Duterte had previously issued a challenge to COA, to disclose the utilization of public funds by members of Congress in previous years.