●/ Solon calls for P50M legal defense fund for gov’t - TopicsExpress

●/ Solon calls for P50M legal defense fund for gov’t auditors /▌ / by Sep 8, 2013 CONGRESS should earmark an initial P50 million to shore up a new legal defense fund for government auditors facing retaliatory lawsuits filed by politicians and other public officials hit by findings of fraud, House Deputy Minority Leader Arnel Ty said Sunday. “I am personally in favor of a P50-million allocation for the fund meant to defray the legal expenses of state auditors facing administrative, civil or criminal cases, owing to their performance of their duties,” said Ty, who represents the LPG Marketers’ Association (LPG-MA) in Congress. The Commission on Audit (COA) has passed Resolution No. 2013-017, creating a Legal Assistance Fund (LAF), “with the amount of P5 million to be requested from the Department of Budget and Management,” to foot the legal costs of personnel who are subjected to harassment lawsuits as a result of the carrying out of their official functions. The COA resolution was passed by Chairperson Ma. Gracia Pulido Tan and Commissioners Heidi Mendoza and Rowena Guanzon on Aug. 23, and took effect on Sept. 7. “Our sense is, the P5 million may not be enough. An initial appropriation of up to P50 million might be more realistic. It would be a wise investment of public funds anyway, with the promise of extremely high potential returns,” said Ty, a member of the House appropriations committee. “We have to build up the COA as an institution at the forefront of the fight for clean governance. If we add P50 million to the LAF, and in the process, we inspire our auditors to thwart say P10-billion worth of potential fraud, then we will have achieved an astounding return on investment,” said Ty, also a member of the House good government and public accountability committee. “Reprisal lawsuits can be very nasty. I would not be surprised if we have retired auditors who still haven’t received their gratuity and other (retirement) benefits, on account of pending suits,” Ty added. The 1987 Constitution empowers the COA to examine, audit, and settle all accounts pertaining to the revenue and receipts of, and expenditures or uses of funds and property owned or held in trust by the government. The COA is tasked to ascertain the scope of examination, establish the required and set accounting and auditing rules, including those for the prevention and disallowance of irregular, unnecessary, excessive, extravagant, and unconscionable expenditures, or uses of public funds and properties. As provided for in the COA resolution, the LAF will cover the legal defense spending of qualified personnel, including expenses for private legal counsel, bail bond, as well as transportation and travel allowances for every hearing or appearance before any court or quasi-judicial body, among others. In a report, the COA has negatively cited several former as well as sitting members of Congress for supposedly channeling some of their Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) allocations in favor of bogus if not dubious non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Some of these NGOs were apparently put up by controversial businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles to embezzle up to P10 billion in public funds. The COA reports on findings of: 1) fraud in government transactions and operations; 2) violations of administrative rules and regulations; 3) and shortage after cash examination. It also issues notices of disallowance of spending as well as property accountability, and renders adverse decisions on financial transactions in government.