COA asks DICT to account for P2.6B fund transfers to PITC
The Commission on Audit (COA) has required the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to account for the more than P2.6 billion fund transfers (FTs) to the Philippine International Trading Corporation (PITC) for the procurements of goods and services which have "aged" for five to 11 years.
"The details or breakdown of the transfers, such as the purpose of the transfer, duration of implementation, the responsible implementing unit of the DICT and related projects, cannot however be determined due to the absence of supporting documents and monitoring records of the transfers particularly the details of each annual percentage rate (APR) made to the PITC," the COA said in its 2022 annual audit report (AAR) on DICT.
COA noted that the PITC confirmed the P1,616,590,253.22 balance in its books. However, state auditors stressed the need for attention "due to the materiality of the amount and the period of time that these were parked in the PITC which aged five to more than 11 years."
The difference in the books and in the records of the DICT amounted to P1,077,153,746.17, COA said.
"This variance included deliveries made by the PITC but were not recorded in the books due to the absence of certification from implementing units that there were goods and services completely received and accepted by the DICT end-users. Further, the absence of details for the transfer made it more difficult for the accounting division to verify, validate, and reconcile its balance from those reported by the PITC," it said.
It also said that its audit team theorized that the existence of outstanding balances meant that there was non-delivery and non-materialization of the intended projects.
"Accordingly, the unliquidated funds under the custody of the PITC became idle defeating the purpose of the transfer, which could have been beneficial to the DICT and its intended beneficiaries," it stressed.
With its findings, COA has tasked the DICT finance service director to convene all the project implementing units with transfers to the PITC and require the submission of all documents covering for the advances made to the PITC, as well as account for all the delivered goods and services and those with pending deliveries.