Meanwhile, the Commission on Audit (COA) reiterated that heads of government offices like Enrile can realign their respective budgets.
"Section 56, paragraph (2), of the GAA (General Appropriations Act) provides that departments, agencies, and offices are authorized to augment any item of expenditure within Personal Services and MOOE except confidential and intelligence funds which require prior approval of the President of the Philippines," said COA Chairperson Grace Tan in her reply to a query sent by Santiago last week.
She said the MOOE can never be discretionary or used as pork barrel for senators since this is allotted for general administration and support, legislative services, and operational requirements of about 35 congressional commissions and oversight committees.
"The GAA does not specify when the Senate President can or should exercise this authority (augmenting budgets through agency savings), nor does it prescribe a formula," said Tan.
Citing a report from the Senate resident auditor, Tan said Santiago's office received a total of P15,492,292 in additional MOOE on various dates in March, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, and December 2012.
On Santiago's request to itemize the earnings of senators and congressman, COA asked her to just refer to the 2011 Report on Salaries and Allowances (Rosa), which also contains compensation received by government officials from assistant secretaries to Cabinet secretaries, state corporations and even members of the High Court.
"We can only access payments to the aforesaid officials that are made from public funds. Any income that they receive from the private sector, if any, is beyond our jurisdiction; these are more properly within the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR)," said Tan.
Santiago was furnished a copy of the income report. (Virgil Lopez/JCV/Sunnex)--
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