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COA can conduct special audit of PH Red Cross, Palace maintains
COA can conduct special audit of PH Red Cross, Palace maintains
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque on Tuesday, September 7, maintained that the Commission on Audit (COA) has jurisdiction to conduct a special audit on the Philippine Red Cross (PRC), which is chaired by Senator Richard Gordon who recently got embroiled in a verbal tussle with President Duterte.
This follows Duterte’s order for state auditors to do a “special audit” on COA after alleging that Gordon will use the funds there for the 2022 polls.
The Palace official said there was a basis for the President’s order, citing Section 4.8 of COA Circular No. 96-003, one of the duties of the government is to “request the COA for special audits of (NGO) on (a) case-to-case basis.”
A copy of the circular was shown during the spokesman’s virtual press briefing.
The same circular provides that under Section 6.2, state auditors can “conduct special audits of NGOs/POs upon request by proper authorities or as determined by the Chairman.”
READ: Duterte eyes Red Cross audit by COA amid word war with Gordon
Roque, a lawyer, noted that some of the things the state auditors can look into when it audits PRC are the cost of the RT-PCR testing, as well as the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) entered into by PRC with Metro Manila mayors for the mass testing of probable COVID-19 suspects and another MOA with PhilHealth where PRC received P100 million as advance payments “for mobilization through interim reimbursement mechanism.”
“Malinaw kasi po na nakalagay sa PRC charter na hindi ito maaaring kumita habang ginagampanan nito ang kanyang mandato (It is clear in the PRC charter that it cannot generate an income while it is doing its mandate),” Roque said.
His statement came after the PRC’s board came to the defense of Gordon, calling him an “unsalaried volunteer” after the President alleged that the senator is using the humanitarian organization’s funds for his electoral campaign.
READ: PH Red Cross not subject to COA audit, board officials say
Gordon, who heads the Senate blue ribbon committee, is investigating the government’s billions’ worth of contract with a shady pharmaceutical company, Pharmally. The contract was signed by Duterte’s frat brother, former Department of Budget and Management-Procurement Service (DBM-PS) head Christopher Lloyd Lao.
He is being connected to Senator Christopher “Bong” Go and Duterte’s ex-economic adviser, Michael Yang.
Roque said that Article 9 in the Philippine Constitution said that COA has the power to conduct a post-audit basis on all the accounts “pertaining to expenditures or uses of funds by such non-government entities receiving subsidy or equity directly or indirectly from or through the government.”
Under Republic Act 10072 or the Philippine Red Cross Act of 2009, the PRC “shall, at the end of every calendar year, submit to the president of the Philippines an annual report pertaining to its activities showing its financial condition.”
“Simula 2016, wala pong sinumite ang PRC sa presidente ng Pilipinas na report na naglaman ng kanilang mga gawain at nagpakita ng kanilang financial condition tulad ng pinag-uutos ng RA 10072 (Since 2019, the PRC has never submitted to the president of the Philippines a report of its activities and one that shows its financial condition as mandated by RA 10072),” Roque stressed.