Comelec clarifies COA report: Unliquidated cash advances only P131M not P1.6B

Commission on Elections (Comelec) Spokesperson James Jimenez. INQUIRER.net file photo / Christia Marie Ramos

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Audit (COA) may have “gotten their hands” on an older report to say that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has more than P1.6 billion of cash advances, an official from the poll body said on Wednesday.

According to Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez, the commission only has P131 million unliquidated cash advances as of July 2019, based on the report of its Finance Director.

“I don’t know why they reported an older figure when as of July 31, our unliquidated cash advances stood at P131 million. It’s a matter of bank reconciliations kasi and usually kapag nagre-reconcile na yan, you are talking about P40 million, P50 million, malalaki, mga bulto ng transactions,” Jimenez said in an interview.

“So again, nag-clarify lang yung Finance Director namin kanina na as of July 31, nasa P131 million ang unliquidated namin which is a far cry from the P1.6 billion that was reported,” he added.

When asked if the commission would write to COA regarding the matter, Jimenez said that it would not as the agency might have just gotten an older report.

“Hindi naman, they must have gotten their hands on an older report or something. It’s COA’s job to call our attention on things like that,” Jimenez said.

In its annual audit report, COA said that Comelec has some P1.637 billion in unliquidated cash advances as of September 2018.

The COA published the findings over the weekend in the form of a management letter because Comelec failed to submit financial statements for the year, making it impossible for the COA to publish an audit report.

Nevertheless, the management letter contains the same audit observations that a report would have.

READ: Comelec advances hit P1.6B