The Commission on Audit (COA) will soon require all its employees to file detailed conflict-of-interest declarations, part of a series of reforms following anomalies uncovered in the country's flood control and infrastructure projects.

COA Chairperson Gamaliel Cordoba said this on Monday, Oct. 13 this during subcommittee deliberations of the agency's proposed budget. Senate Finance Committee Chair Senator Sherwin Gatchalian raised concerns about the integrity of safeguards within government infrastructure projects, particularly after revelations from previous Blue Ribbon Committee hearings.

“Ang (The) last bastion of safeguards in the local, whether LGU, district engineering office or other offices, is yung Commission on Audit (COA),” Gatchalian said.

“Alam natin na walang mga anomalies na mababayaran nang di narereview ng COA... gusto kong masigurado na in 2026 ang COA ay mabibigyan ng pondo at tools para di maulit ito (We know that no anomalies can be paid without being reviewed by the COA... I want to make sure that in 2026, the COA will be given enough funds and tools so that this won’t happen again),”

Cordoba admitted that manpower shortages and internal lapses contributed to the irregularities found in the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Bulacan 1st District Engineering Office, which he called the “epicenter” of the flood control irregularities. He said that they when they checked on the ground, they noticed that we only have two auditors in the 1st District Engineering Office of Bulacan, noting that these two auditors were handling 11 municipalities, 3 cities, and 8 Land Transportation Offices.

He revealed that COA has already issued 21 fraud audit reports, eight of which have been submitted to the Ombudsman and served as the basis for the administrative suspension of DPWH Bulacan 1st DEO personnel.

Cordoba also acknowledged that “one of our commissioners ay nagkaroon po ng conflict of interest (had a conflict of interest),” prompting the agency to implement a reform requiring all COA employees to declare their financial and business interests.

“All our employees will be asked to issue a declaration of conflict of interest kung ano kanilang mga economic interest and kung ito ay may conflict sa kanilang trabaho bilang auditor (what their economic interests are and whether these conflict with their work as auditors),” he said.

The new requirement, Cordoba explained, is more detailed than the traditional Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN).

“Doon po kasi sa SALN nakalagay lang ang corporation but you don't say naman kung ano ginagawa ng corporation at kung anong business. Dito samin mas detalyado ang aming hihingin na mga information para makita talaga kung may conflict of interest o wala (In the SALN, it only lists the corporation, but it doesn’t specify what the corporation does or what kind of business it’s engaged in. In our case, we will require more detailed information so we can clearly determine whether there is a conflict of interest or not),” he added.

The COA chair said the idea was suggested by Rep. Chel Diokno and will soon be institutionalized through an internal issuance. The move aims to “protect the integrity of COA’s audit process” amid questions about its capacity to prevent corruption.

Senator Joseph Victor "JV" Ejercito, meanwhile, questioned whether resident auditors knowingly participated or were negligent in the fraudulent activities.

“While it has not been proven yet... may sarili ba tayong investigation sa resident auditors that were assigned dito sa Bulacan 1st DEO? (While it has not been proven yet… do we have our own investigation into the resident auditors who were assigned to the Bulacan 1st District Engineering Office?)” he asked, adding that the same scrutiny should apply to Mindoro, another district tagged for irregularities.

Cordoba replied that COA’s ongoing fraud audit also examines “the negligence or complicity ng ating resident auditors sa baba.” The findings, he said, would be referred to COA’s Internal Affairs Office for appropriate penalties.

“We will submit it to you but sana confidential muna kasi ((we hope it will be confidential in the meantime since) we are still in the process of issuing a decision,” he told the senator.

Ejercito also asked about Commissioner Mario Lipana, who was implicated in reports of conflict of interest. Cordoba responded that COA has no disciplinary authority over a fellow commissioner, as they are considered impeachable officers. He stated that the OMB started an investigation and that they're cooperating with them.

Addressing questions on how COA plans to prevent similar cases, Cordoba said the agency will soon issue memorandum circulars on the geotagging of infrastructure projects.

Commissioner Douglas Michael Malillin elaborated that proper geotagging could help deter falsified project reports.

"May mga litrato ho ginagawa, kesa yung metadata, sinusuperimpose yung GPS coordinates doon sa litrato (They were making photos instead of using the metadata — the GPS coordinates were just being superimposed onto the pictures)," he explained.

“The best party po to do a geotag is a third party — not the contractor, not the DPWH,” he added.

He also stated that using satellite-based geotagging would make it hard to falsify and ensure that projects are actually built in their approved locations.

“Kung tama po ang location and coordinates ng isang project at the start, ibig sabihin napag-aralan mabuti kung saan ang proyekto. Kung maiiba po ang lokasyon, magdududa na rin tayo bat naiba (If the location and coordinates of a project are correct from the start, it means the project site was properly studied. But if the location changes, we should start to question why it was altered),” Malillin said.