COA rebuffs ‘Hataw’ report on PCOO ASEAN expense

MANILA – Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Undersecretary Noel Puyat reaffirmed the PCOO management’s commitment to transparency and accountability.

Puyat made this statement in response to a malicious, unfounded and false report entitled “P647.11 milyon hinahanap ng COA” published by tabloid Hataw in its May 9, 2018 issue. The report alleged that a Commission on Audit (COA) report has questioned transactions amounting to P647.11 million of the PCOO related to the Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN) 2017 hosting.

COA, for its part, made a clarification to Hataw’s news article denying that any such audit report alleged in the tabloid report was ever issued.

Edna P. Salaguban, COA Supervising Auditor for PCOO, in a letter dated May 10, 2018 addressed to PCOO management, said the 2017 Annual Audit Report on PCOO is still undergoing review, hence the false news “could not have been lifted from [the] audit report.”

COA has yet to issue a final audit report. “As far as the COA-PCOO Audit Team is concerned, we do not have any knowledge on an ongoing investigation of a P 647.11 Million fund,” Salaguban’s letter added.

Undersecretary Puyat said, “We are confident that all our official transactions have been above-board. In fact, COA has given the PCOO a clean bill represented by certifications of ‘no disallowances’ for the past six audit quarters.”