Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 22) — State auditors flagged the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) over fund transfers amounting to more than ₱2.6 billion for the purchase of goods and services that remain unliquidated.
In its management letter to the DICT, the Commission on Audit (COA) questioned the fund transfers made to the Philippine International Trading Corporation (PITC) as they lack supporting documents.
“The purpose of the transfer, duration of implementation, the responsible implementing unit of the DICT and related projects, cannot however be determined due to the absence of supporting documents and monitoring records of the transfers,” the COA said.
Auditors noted the PITC confirmed a balance of only about ₱1.6 billion of payments received from the DICT. This puts a difference of over a billion pesos in the books and records of the DICT.
The variance supposedly included deliveries made by the PITC but were not recorded in the books due to absence of certification from implementing units that there were goods and services received by the DICT.
“Thus, the existence of these outstanding balances implies the non-delivery and the non-materialization or operationalization of the projects,” the COA said.
Auditors recommended the DICT central office accountant to account for all the transfers made, corresponding deliveries, unliquidated amounts, and projects involved and submit to the COA for validation.
The DICT management agreed with the recommendations.
The management letter containing audit observations and recommendations on the DICT for 2022 was uploaded to the COA website earlier this month.
