In less than 10 minutes, the Senate finance subcommittee on Tuesday swiftly approved the Commission on Audit’s (COA) proposed P14.463-billion budget for 2022.
Senator Sonny Angara, chairman of the Senate panel, endorsed COA’s proposed funding to the plenary as there were no senators who interpellated and raised their concerns with the audit body.
“The members of the committee and the chair, I think more than ever we’ll just as supportive if not more, since it’s your last year. And we’ve seen how the commission has worked under you, you’ve set a good example, no controversies,” Angara said.
The senator also lauded COA chairperson Michael Aguinaldo for giving attention to the construction of COA buildings in each province across the country.
“That’s a nice legacy that you’ve given home to the provincial COAs. Well done, sir,” he said.
In his presentation, Aguinaldo asked the Senate panel to support the additional budget for the maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE), as well as the capital outlay for the construction of additional provincial satellite auditing offices (PSAOs).
As of June 30, Aguinaldo said they were able to complete 54 PSAOs in 54 provinces.
“The bulk of these or about 47 were constructed in the past six years and it could have been more if not for the pandemic and the quarantine it caused and we have an additional 14 that are undergoing construction, some of which may be finished soon, some are just starting their groundbreaking,” he said.
“In total, we have about 67 or 68 buildings that we hope will be completed by next year. So konti na lang po, we’ll be able to get for each province, malapit na po,” he added.
Angara then expressed full support to the budget proposal of COA.
“As before, we’ll endeavor to enable you fiscally, very deserving, you play an important role in our scheme of governance,” he said.
“I will just terminate, and this is probably the shortest budget hearing of this 2022 budget. We’ll endorse your budget without prejudice to any possible increases to the plenary,” he added. — RSJ, GMA News
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