PDEA in doghouse over 11 missing dogs

State auditors can’t be accused of barking up the wrong tree in the case of the missing sniffer dogs at the country’s antidrug trafficking agency.

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) lost more than 10 K-9 dogs worth P9.9 million in its campaign to stamp out drug trafficking but strangely kept silent about it, according to the Commission on Audit (COA).

The COA, in its 2010 annual audit report, said the PDEA failed to notify the agency about the alleged deaths of the dogs.

While sifting through PDEA’s financial reports, auditors stumbled on a balance of P9,932,000 in the agency’s work and other animal accounts, which represent the cost of the 13 units of the K-9 that had been turned over by the Philippine National Police.

“We were informed informally that the 11 K-9 dogs allegedly died. However, to date, no written notice of loss was submitted to the auditor. Neither was a request for relief from accountability filed,” the COA said.

Quoting Presidential Decree No. 1445, the COA said any custodian of government property or money was required to immediately report any loss to the auditor, and within 30 days the COA may present the custodian’s application for relief.

“We recommend that the management require the accountable officers concerned to submit the circumstances of the alleged deaths of the K-9 dogs and justification why the auditor was not notified in writing in 30 days within death,” it said.

The 13 K-9 dogs were transferred by the PNP’s defunct National Drug Law Enforcement and Prevention to the PDEA on the latter’s creation.

By the end of the Arroyo administration on June 30, 2010, only two dogs were left. “Frankie, who is active in Maguindanao, and Bullet who is retired and is now in Bulacan. The papers of the 11 dogs that have died are still pending,” the COA said.

Unaccounted for

The agency said it had already noted in its 2008 audit report that eight K-9 dogs that died could not be accounted for.

The PDEA has yet to settle amicably the payments of the Economic Intelligence and Investigation Bureau (EIIB) main office in Quezon City and offices in the regions totaling P88 million with the National Housing Authority (NHA), according to the COA.

Ownership of the buildings was transferred to the PDEA through Executive Order No. 227 in 2003. The agency is occupying the EIIB main office in Quezon City, and assumed the obligations of the EIIB for the purchase of the lot from the NHA.