Binay doubts COVID audit will be finished before 2021 budget hearing
Sen. Nancy Binay. File photo / Joseph Vidal of Senate PRIB
MANILA, Philippines — Senator Nancy Binay has expressed doubt that the special audit of the government’s COVID-19 spending, which is being sought by her colleagues, could be completed before Congress starts deliberating on the 2021 national budget.
“I think dapat naman talaga siyang i-audit kaya lang yung resolution may colatilla ‘yan na kailangang gawin iyan before we discuss the budget,” Binay said in an interview over CNN Philippines on Thursday.
(I think that there is a need to conduct an audit but the resolution has a colatilla that the findings of the special audit should be completed before we discuss the budget.)
“I’m just being realistic na I don’t think kakayanin ng COA (Commission on Audit) na ma-audit itong Bayanihan-1 funds before we start deliberating on the budget,” she added.
(I’m just being realistic, I don’t think COA would be able to finish its audit of the Bayanihan-1 funds before we start deliberating on the budget.)
Through a Senate resolution, seven senators earlier urged COA to conduct a special review of all government spending related to its COVID-19 response under the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act.
Under the Bayanihan law, which already expired in June, the government had been allowed to swiftly procure commodities, facilities, utilities and services deemed necessary for the COVID-19 response without the required bidding process as laid out in the Government Procurement Reform Act.
The said resolution also requested COA to present its findings before Congress tackles the proposed 2021 national budget.
“We are anticipating massive allocations to address the health, economic and social impacts of COVID-19. It is of critical importance that there be audit findings to guide legislators in our exercise of the power of the purse,” Senator Risa Hontiveros, the resolution’s main proponent, earlier said.
While Binay was not among the signatories to the resolution, she still underscored the need for a special audit on the state’s pandemic-driven spending.
“I support and there is a need. Alam naman natin na maraming alegasyon sa pagdisperse ng Bayanihan-1 and dapat naman talaga ma-audit sya whether special or regular audit,” she said.
(I support and there is a need. We know that there are a lot of allegations on how funds were dispersed so there really is a need for it to be audited whether special or regular audit.)
‘On guard’
Senator Sonny Angara, chair of the Senate finance committee and among the seven lawmakers who supported the resolution, said a special audit is needed to ensure that state funds were “spent in a responsible manner.”
“Di naman instant dapat rin naman yung results, we’re not asking: ‘Tomorrow give us the special audit.’ We’re asking the COA to do a special audit, which is a little more detailed than their regular audit, because a lot of discretion was given to officials,” Angara said in a separate television interview.
(We are not saying that the findings be presented to us immediately, we’re not asking: Tomorrow give us the special audit.)
“When there’s discretion, sometimes there’s a lot of accountability. It might lead to corruption. We’re not saying there is corruption but we just want people to be on their guard when they spend, they don’t overprice things,” he added.
Malacañang, meanwhile, welcomed the proposed special audit of the Duterte administration’s COVID-19 response spending, saying it does not have anything to hide.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque also said he would present a report on the government’s spending in its efforts to address the pandemic early next week.
