The Commission on Audit has flagged the Office of the Civil Defense for possessing eight motor vehicles worth P15.707 million that were not registered under the agency's name.
In its 2022 report, state auditors found that OCD has obtained eight units of motor vehicles through donations with four of which — amounting to P9.74 million — were donated by China.
The units include a Mitsubishi L300, an Ambulance Ford JMC and a Toyota Hybrid Sedan. The eight units were donated by Korea, China, the Department of Energy, and Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corporation from 2007 to 2022.
CoA inquired to the OCD its non-registration of the units, which runs counter to Republic Act 4136 or the Land Transportation and Traffic Code, mandating all motor vehicles must be registered.
It added that the China-donated units also remained idle and could not be used by the OCD since the documents needed were still pending at the Bureau of Customs.
"The vehicles remained unregistered and were not allowed to be used to transport relief items and/or personnel during disaster response and recovery operations as unregistered vehicles are prohibited to use any public highway under RA No. 4136," CoA said.
The auditing body pointed out that the non-registration of the vehicles under the OCD regarded the agency as not the rightful owner and stressed that the OCD places government resources at stake by not fully complying with the provisions of RA 4136.
"Owner is defined as the actual legal owner of a motor vehicle, in whose name such vehicle is duly registered in the Land Transportation Office," the state auditor said.
However, the CoA said that the OCD should compel the concerned personnel to exhaust "all possible means" to enable the registration of the motor vehicles in its name so that the cars could be used according to their intended purpose.
The OCD, meanwhile, agreed to comply with the CoA's directive.