Pro-impeachment congressmen urge independent audit of JDF

Intent on pinning down Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr., pro-impeachment congressmen called yesterday for an independent audit of the multimillion-peso Judiciary Development Fund (JDF).

As the House committee on justice resumed investigation on the JDF, Tarlac Rep. Jesli Lapus (Nationalist People’s Coalition) said a private auditing firm could make an accurate assessment of JDF disbursements.

Lapus, a certified public accountant, said the Commission on Audit report prepared by Supreme Court resident auditor Cecilia Caga-anan and COA director Dominador Tersol appears to have "glossed over huge discrepancies" in the use of the JDF.

"This is enough reason for us to go into an in-depth and independent audit," he said during a hearing presided by Eastern Samar Rep. Marcelino Libanan (NPC).

"If there’s a huge failure in financial housekeeping or mismanagement, the probability of irregularities (is) very high," Lapus said.

The "exceptions" and "material misstatements" mentioned in the report have amounted to at least P3.2 billion, he added.

Camarines Sur Rep. Felix William Fuentebella (NPC), one of the two principal complainants against Davide, said COA officials could be held liable for administrative and criminal charges if they are found to have engaged in a cover-up.

However, Caga-anan insists that she and the other COA auditors have not found any irregularity in the disbursement of the JDF.

"In the course of our audit, we did not find any irregularity," she said.

Davao City Rep. Prospero Nograles said it is unfortunate that the COA report remains unclear on the question of misuse of the JDF.

"The COA report itself showed that a huge amount cannot be reconciled," he said.

The JDF’s allocation has not been "properly distributed" among courts which had collected the fees, he added.

Under Presidential Decree 1949 which created the JDF, disbursement of the fund must be in proportion to the amount of fees collected by the courts.

However, if the law would be "followed to the letter," courts which do not collect any fees like those in Tawi-Tawi would not be able to receive any allocation from the JDF, said Corazon Ordoñez, chief of the Supreme Court’s fiscal management and budget office.

The Supreme Court has "deemed it better" to allocate money from the JDF for allowances and equipment for courts which are unable to collect fees, she added.

The committee on justice has invited to the next hearing COA Chairman Guillermo Carague and the other commissioners to shed light on inconsistencies in the audit agency’s JDF report. — Paolo Romero