COA calls out Supreme Court over P3.9B in unused funds for infra projects

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Audit (COA) has called out the Supreme Court for not fully using P3.902 billion in funds allocated for infrastructure projects nationwide that should have benefited lower courts.

Out of 48 infrastructure projects for halls of justice in different areas between 2016 and 2019, a total of 39 projects or 81.25 percent were not built or repaired, according to a 2019 COA report. Five other projects or 10.42 percent had yet to be completed since 2016 while four others or 8.33 percent were finished beyond the targeted date.

The COA said this resulted in “idle/unutilized funds of P3.902 billion, denoting a low absorptive capacity of the agency in the efficient and effective utilization of its budgets for infrastructure projects” under the national budget.

The unused funds have been transferred as savings since the Supreme Court enjoys fiscal autonomy.

The noncompletion or nonconstruction of the 48 infrastructure projects was blamed on inadequate planning, slow procurement, lack of coordination with local government agencies or the Department of Public Works and Highways, and a lack of technical employees.

The COA sought an explanation from the Office on Halls of Justice (OHJ) under the Office of the Court Administrator, which was in charge of the planning, execution and monitoring of infrastructure projects.

Lack of employees

It also cited problems in the OHJ’s procurement, including the lack of an alternative mode of procurement after failed bids and the revision of purchase requests that were still subject to the approval of the court.

Another issue was the OHJ’s lack of technical employees to oversee 334 hall of justice buildings nationwide, given that it has only three engineers, an architect, a building inspector, two engineering assistants, an engineering aide and two draftsmen.

The OHJ said it had hired 15 casual employees as technical personnel only in 2019.

The COA, however, said the problems encountered by the OHJ, except those attributable to contractors, “should have been resolved during the preliminary engineering study on the viability of the affected projects and preconstruction/detailed engineering activities.”

In addition, state auditors also called out the Supreme Court for P3.515 billion in idle or unused funds due to unimplemented or unfinished projects under its Enterprise Information Systems Plan (EISP).

The EISP is the judiciary’s information and communications technology master plan approved in 2019 and targeted for implementation from 2015 to 2019. INQ