COA asks Turtle Islands town in Tawi-Tawi to set up center for gender and development

The Commission on Audit (COA) has directed the municipality of Turtle Islands in Tawi-Tawi to set up a responsibility center for its gender and development (GAD) Focal Point System (GFPS) for the accounting and monitoring of GAD-related expenses and financial transactions.

In its 2023 audit on Turtle Islands, the COA said the implementation of the GFPS is mandated by COA Circular No. 2021-008 dated Sept. 6, 2021, which delegated the preparation of reports for GAD-related expenses and other financial transactions to the responsibility center of the GFPS.

But the COA said the municipality  has not established the required responsibility center with the reason that they are not aware of the COA's circular.

Thus, the COA recommended that the municipality take heed of the circular and ensure the establishment of the responsibility center, as this "will be beneficial to the GFPS to facilitate generation of all reports pertaining to GAD related expenses and other GAD related financial transactions, and to monitor and properly account for the GAD funds."

Also, the COA asked the town officials to act on the GAD database containing sex-disaggregated data (SDD) to serve as a source of information for identifying and addressing gender issues through the implementation of gender responsive policies, programs, activities, and projects.

SDD has been defined as any data on individuals broken down by sex, which is used to develop programs and policies that would help improve health outcomes for males and females.

The COA said that the GAD database on SDD should contain gender statistics and GAD-related information that is crucial for evidenced-based planning and policy-making.