OSG flagged anew for undocumented travel expenses worth P1.16 million

MANILA, Philippines — The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) was again flagged for not submitting documents to support its local and foreign travel expenses, this time for the year 2019.

“The grant and liquidation of cash advances amounting to P1,169,121.61 for local and foreign travels were not supported with the requisite documents,” the Commission on Audti (COA) said in its audit report which was released last Friday.

COA said that 17 OSG officers and employees did not submit the necessary documents — namely certifications from the agency head that the hotel accommodations were necessary and certificates of participation and attendance and a training report for the events that supposedly made the hotel accommodations necessary.

The omissions, COA said, violated a COA circular on traveling expenses and the Government Auditing Code of the Philippines (Presidential Decree No. 1445).

“We recommended and Management agreed to instruct the Chief Accountant to ensure the completeness of supporting documents in the liquidation reports before submitting the same to the Audit Team for final disposition in audit,” the COA report added.

This is not the first time OSG was called out by COA for nonsubmission of documentation of traveling expenses.  In May 2019, COA raised red flags on P7.1 million worth of foreign trips that were also undocumented.

COA also raised issues in the past about allegedly excessive allowances of officials, going over the 50 percent cap, stretching from then-Solicitor General Florin Hilbay and incumbent Solicitor General Jose Calida.

INQUIRER.net tried to get the side of the OSG regarding the issue, but its officials have not replied as of posting time.

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