COA confirms Quezon City has complete 2020 audit documents, belies fake news

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Audit has confirmed that the Quezon City government has completed its documents for the year 2020, in line with the P479-million payment for the city’s procurement of relief packs. The COA likewise acknowledged that the documents were in full compliance with audit standards, and no irregularities were flagged.

The COA certification was issued after mayoralty candidate and current Anakalusugan Rep. Mike Defensor claimed that the Commission was recently “investigating the QC Local Government Unit (LGU)” regarding these purchases.

It was later determined that the COA was not, in fact, investigating nor reprimanding the Quezon City LGU, but merely requesting for pending documentation to complete their year-end audit.

“With this COA certification, I hope we can finally put these ridiculous accusations to rest,” noted Pia Morato, spokesperson for Mayor Joy Belmonte. “As mentioned previously, this was a sad attempt to turn very old news into fake news, and unfortunately, even the COA had to be involved in this nonsense,” she added.

When the issue first came up, Morato clarified that the COA excerpt that Defensor was referring to was an old report posted on the state auditor’s website last July 2021. She added that the QC-LGU was able to submit the required documents within the week that it was requested by the COA, and that, in the same year, the city was actually awarded the highest audit rating in its history.

“I’m not sure what the good congressman was thinking when he made these allegations, because they are so easily verifiable as fake. We would once again like to thank the COA for its thorough audit and recognition of our city’s transparency and integrity, in awarding us with an unprecedented Unqualified Opinon,” Morato concluded.