The reorganization is envisioned to rebuild the Commission on Audit or CoA into a pillar of order in the bureaucracy and fiscal discipline in the management of the country’s resources. This is the manner the late father of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., in 1975, streamlined the units and changed the audit functions and procedures into instruments of economy, efficiency, effectiveness, transparency, and accountability.
Most likely, the reorganization will take place after the resident auditors have all rendered in June their annual audit reports on the accounts and financial operations of the government agencies they audit for the calendar year ending 31 December 2022.
Kudos to the CoA led by Chairman Gamaliel Cordoba, for presiding splendidly at the Working Group on Public Debt or WGPD Annual Meeting in Cairo, Egypt, from 8 to 10 May.
Cordoba, after being accorded by Japan the prestigious Order of the Rising Sun, for his significant contributions to advancing cooperation between Japan and the Philippines, in the field of telecommunication, flew to Cairo to preside over the WGPD annual meeting.
The CoA chief was ably supported in his trip by Commissioner Roland Pondoc and Assistant Commissioner Cora Lea de la Cruz.
The 2023 Cairo WGPD Annual Meeting carries the theme of the Role of Supreme Audit Institutions in promoting debt transparency against the backdrop of a post-pandemic environment.
The meeting was attended by a 41-member working group coming from regional organizations of supreme audit institutions.
After the meeting in Cairo, Chairman Cordoba flew to Paris to attend the United Nations International Children Fund or UNICEF annual meeting, where he was able to fully appreciate the importance of UNICEF in helping the poor and suffering children in many parts of the world.
Cordoba arrived yesterday from his foreign trip and is set to preside over his vision of ushering the CoA to new heights through the digital transformation of a state audit.
But first, he must tackle the monkey on his back, the huge Commission Proper backlog, the ugly legacy of Grace Pulido Tan, Heidi Mendoza, Jose Fabia, and Michael Aguinaldo, which piled up from 2010 to 2022 because of too much time spent on foreign tours and the promotion of the citizen participatory audit instead of performing their Constitutional duty to conduct post-audit.
Unknown to many Filipinos, is the truth that the notarized documents in this huge backlog, cover a large portion of a trillion pesos lost, and never to be recovered, during the period 2010 to 2022 due to the mishandling of auditing and budgeting functions.
In the true sense of the word the huge backlog is a killjoy to Cordoba’s right to enjoy the honor and dignity of being appointed to the position of chairman of the Commission on Audit and the splendor of turning overnight into a global celebrity after being accorded the prestigious Order of the Rising Sun award from Japan.
Cordoba is determined to rebuild CoA into a model of orderliness in running the affairs of the state and fiscal discipline in the handling of state funds and resources in accordance with principles inculcated by the late Marcos Sr. if only to help his son, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. accomplish the multi-trillion impact developmental plans, programs and projects of his administration which he so envisioned for the good of the country and people.
Covered by the reorganization are the clusters in the corporate audit sector, government banks, other state financial institutions, and other public institutions.
Clusters in Local Government Audit Sector are: National Capital Region; Cordillera Administrative Region, Region I, Region II and III; Region IV and V; Region VI, VII, and VIII: Region IX, X, XI, XII, and XIII; Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao.
(To be continued)