COA seeks probe of ‘forged’ signatures in OPAPP attendance sheets

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Audit (COA) is calling for an investigation into possible forgeries in the attendance sheets for conferences and meetings attended by the officers and staff of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) in 2014.

In a recently released report, state auditors said the signatures appearing in the documents for various claims attached to support expenses “were unreliable and doubtful.”

There are “disparities in signatures of same attendees on different attendance sheets and apparent similarity or resemblance of handwriting strokes by different claimants,” the audit team said in their report.

“In a number of attendance sheets, different names were printed but the handwriting/strokes were similar,” they added.

A review on a sampling basis of the attendance sheets for the meal expenses incurred in 2014 also showed inconsistencies in the handwriting of different signatories.

“There were several attendance sheets that included the same name but with different signatures,” the audit team said, adding that reports from the same establishments also bared different signatures although the names indicated were the same.

The COA said the OPAPP management should conduct investigation to determine authenticity of the signatures.

The COA said if evidence warrants, errant personnel should face appropriate charges with the audit team properly informed of the outcome of the investigation and the corresponding action undertaken.

The audit team noted that COA Circular 2012-001 dated June 14, 2012 states that claims against government funds should be supported by complete, sufficient and relevant documents to establish the validity of the claim.