PCOO’s P206M audit discrepancy not lost or stolen, just ‘missing equipment’ — exec

PCOO Undersecretary Kris Ablan. Screengrab from Senate livestream

MANILA, Philippines — The  P206.3-million discrepancy flagged by the Commission on Audit (COA) on the property and equipment of the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) does not necessarily mean that the amount was lost or has been stolen, an official of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) said Thursday.

PCOO Undersecretary Kristian Ablan said the PIA was able to answer the COA’s observation, explaining that the agency could not reconcile the list of their property and equipment to the actual inventory.

“Hindi naman ibig sabihin ay nawawala ‘yan. These are all office supplies, property saka equipment. Ang explanation natin diyan, ng PIA, hindi lang nila ma-reconcile ‘yung listahan nila ng property saka equipment at saka yung actual,” he said in an interview over ABS-CBN’s TeleRadyo.

(That does not mean that it’s lost. These are all office supplies, property and equipment. The PIA explained that they could not just reconcile their list to the actual.)

“Most of these na hindi ma-locate ay office equipment, hindi ibig sabihin ay ninakaw na ‘yun o wala,” Ablan said.

(Most of these are office equipment that could not be located but it does not mean that it was stolen or lost.)

Ablan cited the large number of offices of the PIA — 70 provincial and 60 regional — which makes it a challenge to visit all of them for the inventory.

He also said that those who were using the equipment — laptops and cellphones — are mostly field personnel and they bring the equipment with them.

“Mayroon kasing mga accountable officers niyan na hindi lang ma-reach, malamang pag nag-auudit sila ‘yung mga tao namin nasa field, syempre dala nila computer, laptop, mbile phones,” Ablan said.

(We have accountable officers for that and they must have not been able to reach them because they were in the field and they brought the equipment with them.)

He said the PIA has committed to follow the COA recommendation to ensure that the equipment is accounted for.

“Mayroon namang recommendation ang COA at sabi naman ng PIA gagawin naman nila ‘yun, which is to ensure na kung sino ‘yung taong responsible doon sa mga equipment na ‘yun, upuan o la mesa o computer, ay talagang hindi siya makakalabas ng serbisyo na hindi niya binabalik ‘yun,” Ablan said.

(The COA has a recommendation and the PIA said they will follow it, which is to ensure that whoever is responsible for the equipment will not be able to go out of the service without returning those equipment.)

Ablan said the PCOO has also ordered the PIA to file the liquidation of their cash advances, after the COA also flagged P12 million of unliquidated cash advances.

EDV