COA flags OCD for missing equipment; OCD says everything is accounted for

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Audit (COA) flagged the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) for several pieces of equipment that were unaccounted for; however, the OCD maintained that it has already properly accounted for many of these items.

In a report released in December, the COA noted several accounting errors and omissions for 2023. 

Several semi-expendable properties were reported missing during the COA’s physical inventory. 

For example, in the OCD Regional Office (RO) 2, the COA found that there were missing laptops amounting to P207,000. 

The OCD was also flagged for the non-recording of accrued expenses. 

“The audit noted that various expenses in (NCR) National Capital Region totaling P141,113.20 were not recognized in the books of accounts at year-end, thereby resulting in the understatement of Accounts Payable and related expenses accounts by the same amount,” the COA report read. 

Some of the expenses include the salaries of several job orders and contracts of service personnel, electric bills, communication expenses and more. 

The OCD also had unrecorded deliveries amounting to P12.57 million. These items were already delivered, accepted and issued to end-users but they were unrecorded in the OCD’s accounts. 

Some of these items include shelter repair kits, Christmas bags, plaques and markers for awards and more.

On March 8, 2024, COA also found around 35 sacks of bonnets and hand gloves that were supposed to be donated to the victims of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Syria and Turkey in February 2023. 

“Several items were not included in the cargo shipped to Turkey and remained in the custody of CO (central office). These inventories were not included in the year-end inventory report nor recorded in the books of accounts,” the COA report read. 

The OCD, which has the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council attached to it, also failed to exhaust its disaster funds. 

“Various projects intended for DRRM programs totaling P12.79 million remained unimplemented as of year-end, which deprived the intended users of the much-needed benefits that could have been derived from the projects,” COA said. 

COA also flagged the OCD RO 10