THE head of the House Committee on People’s Participation on Sunday asked President Rodrigo Duterte to certify as urgent the pre-audit system bill.
San Jose Del Monte City Rep. Florida P. Robes said her pre-audit system bill, which is pending before the lower chamber, may be the answer to prevent controversies involving the findings of the Commission on Audit on various government agencies.
The certification from President Duterte will ensure the smooth passage of the bill in Congress, the lawmaker said.
Robes believes the system would “prevent or minimize any questions on how public funds are used.”
Under House Bill 7124, a pre-audit system mandates that all transactions and contracts are reviewed before public funds are released for their implementation.
“This will ensure that government funds are used according to what they were allocated for within the allotted period,” Robes said.
The measure said all expenditures and uses of public funds pertaining to infrastructure projects, procurement of goods and consulting services, including lease of goods and real property, of any branch, office agency or instrumentality of the government, including state universities and colleges, government-owned and controlled corporations, government financial institutions and local government governments shall undergo mandatory pre-audit before any funds are released for such projects or contracts.
“If this bill gets passed I believe that this will promote transparency and accountability in the disbursement of public funds and as it will ensure that government agencies and local government agencies have the capacity to implement the program within the allotted period,” she said.
To ensure that there will be no delay in the disbursements, the Commission on Audit (COA) shall issue a Certificate of Pre-Audit within a period of 15 days from receipt of all pertinent documents. If the COA does not issue a certificate, it is mandated to decline the issuance of the same, on valid and legal grounds within a period of 15 days from receipt of all pertinent documents relative to the intended disbursement of public funds.
To implement the pre-audit system, the bill creates a Pre-Audit Office at the COA for the manpower requirement to guarantee immediate compliance of the system’s requirements.
For purposes of transparency, the COA is mandated to submit an annual report to the President of the Philippines and to Congress on the status of the implementation of the pre-audit system not later than June 30 of every year following its approval.
Earlier, Robes said the pre-audit system may prevent another controversy involving the use of public funds as what has hounded the Department of Health and other government agencies and instrumentalities.