COA questions OPAPP’s liquidation of P622-M funds

GOVERNMENT peace negotiators are in hot water after state auditors questioned the liquidation of more than P662-million worth of (Disbursement Acceleration Program) funds.

The Commission on Audit (COA) hit the rental by the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) of 294 vehicles in 2014.

The COA disclosed that information on the registration of some of the rented vehicles differed from the data provided by the Land Transportation Office.

“Unutilized fund transfers sourced from the DAP were not refunded/returned to the National Treasury contrary to the Supreme Court decision that DAP was unconstitutional,” the audit agency said.

The state auditors added that as of Dec. 31, 2014, the unliquidated balance amounted to P662,492,805.81.

The COA said the amount “was understated by the amount of funds transferred by implementing agencies to implementing partners that were treated as liquidations by OPAPP.”

The audit report further stated that before DAP implementation was stopped by the Supreme Court, the Aquino administration poured into OPAPP a total P2,067,253,410, with P1,460,5357,277.55 transferred to implementing agencies.

State auditors said the information about the completed and unimplemented projects were lacking as only P798,042,471 of the transferred funds was liquidated.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines, Office of the Regional Governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and provincial government of Northern Samar and the Department of Interior and Local Government received the biggest DAP funds from the OPAPP.

COA asked OPAPP to clarify its liquidation report by submitting the required documents.

It also demanded the immediate return-of unspent DAP funds to the national treasury as required by the high tribunal, which declared some parts of the spending program as unconstitutional.

In the same audit report, audit examiners chided OPAPP for renting motor vehicles for over 15 days even without authority from the Department of Budget Management.