House already got COA report on JDF audit last March—Pulido

COA Chair Ma. Gracia Pulido-Tan INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The Commission on Audit (COA) told lawmakers that they already have a copy of the audit on the Supreme Court’s Judiciary Development Fund (JDF) as early as March.

House Committee on Justice chair Iloilo Representative Niel Tupas Jr. in a letter to COA dated July 14, 2014 requested that a special audit be conducted on the JDF.

But in a letter dated Aug. 4, COA chair Gracia Pulido Tan told Tupas that “copies of the Supreme Court Audit Reports (2000-2011) have been furnished your office on March 3, 2014 while the 2012 report is being furnished your office today (Aug. 4).”

Members of Congress, specifically Tupas and Cavite Representative Elpidio Barzaga, called on the COA to audit the more than P1.7 billion JDF.

They said since the Supreme Court is a prime mover of transparency, it should show the public how JDF is spent.

The call came a week after President Benigno Aquino III criticized the Supreme Court for its decision declaring the Disbursement Allocation Program (DAP) as unconstitutional and warned that it should not further fan the rift and let the third branch of government, which is Congress, to intervene.

But Pulido-Tan said they regularly provide Congress a copy of their audit into the Supreme Court’s account.

“As a matter of practice, the COA always provides the House of Representatives as soon as they are transmitted to the Supreme Court. They are also posted on our website,” Pulido-Tan said in her letter.

She said audit of the JDF transactions for  2013 is ongoing. The result, she said, will be posted on COA’s website and a copy will be provided to lawmakers as a matter of procedure.

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