The Commission on Audit (CoA) has flagged the Commission on Elections (Comelec) over P6.134 billion in cash advances granted to its officers in 2023 — with some already inactive in service — despite their failure to settle or liquidate the same during the previous year.

A review of Comelec’s account showed that 1,429 accountable officers (AOs) received cash advances as of the year-end of 2023, with Region 4 accounting for the biggest chunk at P718.7 million.

State auditors said that the grant of the subject funds, notwithstanding that the AOs have not/partially liquidated their previous cash advances, was in violation of Section 89 of the Government Auditing Code of the Philippines and Section 4.1.2 of COA Circular No. 97-002.

These two regulations mandate that no additional cash advance shall be allowed to any official unless the previous fund given is first settled.

“Granting of the additional cash advances with different purposes from the previous cash advances resulted in the accumulation of cash advances, which is contrary to the cited CoA Circular and an indication of lack of proper monitoring and weak internal control in the granting, utilization and liquidation of cash advances,” the auditing body said.

The CoA also called out Comelec for granting cash advances for the payment of allowances, honoraria and other similar payments granted to AOs at a gross amount of P5.741 billion.

This, despite CoA Circular 97-002, which provides that a cash advance shall only be equal to the net amount of the payroll for a pay period, supported by a list of payees with their net payments, among others.

On top of this, Comelec also incurred overpayment of salaries, overtime and other benefits to its officers totaling P6.98 million in 2023, although the figure was drastically lower than the P12.16 million in 2022.

The Comelec’s accounting division, however, informed the CoA that there is an ongoing analysis/reconciliation of the accounts involved, including retrieving the pertinent documents to evidence the overpayments of the concerned individuals and issuing demand letters.

Nevertheless, the CoA countered that Comelec must undertake necessary measures to intensify collection of the overpayment from the employees concerned and ensure that the excess overtime pay shall be refunded in full.