Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 20) – The Commission on Audit (COA) called out National Food Authority (NFA) officials to refund their transportation allowances worth ₱1.373 million.
In COA’s 2021 audit report on NFA, the state audit agency stressed that transportation allowances should not be given to officials who have government vehicles assigned to their offices in accordance with the General Appropriations Act for that year.
State auditors found out that officials from the NFA central office collected transportation allowances amounting to ₱1.205 million, while officials from the NFA National Capital Region office got ₱168,258.
COA also cited two Supreme Court decisions which both ruled that a government official who has an assigned vehicle is not entitled to receive a transportation allowance, whether or not the official used the vehicle.
In response to the state auditors, the NFA insisted the questioned vehicles were assigned to respective departments and not for the exclusive use of the officials.
The NFA management also said the high court decisions invoked by COA in their audit report were already clarified by past circulars of the auditing agency.
State auditors replied the General Appropriations Act of 2021 superseded the circulars they issued on the use of government vehicles.
