PNP chief takes back COA remarks, orders cops to comply with audit findings
MANILA, Philippines — The chief of the Philippine National Police took back his earlier remarks accusing the Commission on Audit of releasing audit reports to the media, and instead urged local police offices to cooperate with resident auditors.
"It was made clear to me that the COA does not issue press statements and instead, posts its audit reports on its website as part of its Constitutional mandate for transparency," Police Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, PNP chief, said in a statement sent to reporters on Thursday.
"In a forum I attended yesterday, August 18, I categorically suggested that the Commission on Audit should stop releasing its audit reports to the media and instead revert to the old ways when all observations on budget spending are internally directed to the government agencies concerned...I stand corrected," Eleazar added.
Eleazar said he "learned" that the COA actually sent its observations to the PNP offices and "[gave] them enough time to review and correct" any observations before a report is published.
Eleazar said he directed regional and provincial police offices "to further improve their coordination with their respective Resident Auditors and immediately act on their observations to prevent unnecessary situations."
This comes after President Rodrigo Duterte, whose statements are routinely backed by the PNP, instructed government offices not to ignore audit findings by the COA after the latter flagged a number of government departments over unspent funds and other "deficiencies."
"That's what I hate about flagging. It creates a conundrum and you know that it's political season. Everyone has tirades, everyone has criticisms. These newspapers act as if they are the epitome of propriety and decency," Duterte said.
“You make a report, do not flag. Do not publish it because it will condemn the agency or the person you are flagging," he added.
The police chief Thursday said his directive was to avoid COA reports that, he said, would be "eventually misconstrued as tantamount to misuse of funds, or worse, corruption."
Under the 1987 Constitution, the COA is an independent commission that is entirely separate from the executive or legislative branches of government.
"The Philippine National Police has been taking all the COA observations seriously and in fact, has instituted various measures to further improve our budget spending based on whatever the recommendations would suggest over the years," Eleazar claimed.
"I assure the Filipino people that the hard-earned money they give to the PNP through their taxes is safe and is wisely spent as part of our continuous commitment to genuine reforms that are anchored on transparency, accountability and professionalism."
To recall, the PNP was among the first government offices flagged by the commission after the latter flagged the former's underspending of its anti-insurgency funds in 2020 after only disbursing 12% of the total money alloted for that purpose.
Eleazar at the time said that the funds remained intact, adding that PNP was told by the Department of Budget and Management that the NTF-ELCAC fund is a "continuing appropriation."
"The funds had gone unused not because of negligence or anomaly," he said then in a statement in Filipino, saying the money was only entirely released in October 2020.
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