COA auditor dismissed for grave misconduct
THE Commission on Audit has ordered the dismissal of a state auditor who asked and received financial assistance from audited agencies aside from daily traveling allowances for more than two years.
Despite having served a total of 31 years as a government auditor, the respondent was also stripped of eligibility in addition to perpetual disqualification from holding public office and the forfeiture of retirement benefits.
The 24-page decision was signed by COA Chairperson Gamaliel A. Cordoba and Commissioners Roland Café Pondoc and Mario G. Lipana.
While the auditor’s name was withheld in accordance with the rules of the commission, the ruling said she was a former Audit Team Leader assigned to three municipalities in the province of Bulacan.
An Investigating Team was created to look into the allegations leveled against the respondent after the COA received three separate complaints in 2015 and 2016 accusing her of issuing checks with insufficient funding, soliciting other COA employees to invest in Lottery outlets and off-track betting stations that did not materialize, and receiving cash and gifts in kind from agencies she audited.
A municipal accountant of a Bulacan town confirmed that the auditor received P192,800 by way of P400 traveling allowances from August 2014 to September 2016, aside from P61,897 as medical cash assistance.
Two other municipal accountants also informed the investigators that they released P10,000 and P15,000 to the respondent as medical financial assistance, respectively.
“Claiming unauthorized allowances and collecting travel allowance from the agency while being aware of the prohibition showed the intent to violate the law and the rules and regulations,” the commission said.
In her answer dated March 29, 2022, the respondent auditor pleaded lack of awareness about the rule against engaging in private business but admitted that she received financial and medical assistance from audited agencies, saying she needed help to pay the hospital bills of family members.
“Respondent apparently failed to grasp the gravity of her transgression which not only impacts negatively on the image of this Commission but also reflects the depravity of
