Prosecutors, auditors to be assigned to gov’t agencies as deputized ombudsmen
JUSTICE Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Monday disclosed that state prosecutors and auditors will be will be deployed as deputized ombudsmen to different government agencies especially those implicated in allegations of graft and corruption.
According to Guevarra, the prosecutors and auditors would be deployed next month.
Guevarra revealed this development when he was asked about updates on the Department of Justice’s memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the Office of the Ombudsman (OMB) and the Commission on Audit (COA) to consolidate efforts to crack down on corruption in the remaining months of the Duterte administration.
“The implementation of the OMB-COA-DOJ memorandum of agreement on the deployment of prosecutors and auditors as deputy ombudsmen in various agencies is targeted to start in september. The COA annual audit reports will indeed provide a good starting point,” Guevarra said.
But amid the coronavirus outbreak now sweeping the country, Guevarra said that there would be no customary signing of the MOA among the participating agencies in light of the health protocols set by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.
” We’ll dispense with the planned signing ceremony and instead circulate the MOA for individual signing by the principal parties this week,” he said.
Just recently, COA released its 2020 annual audit report on irregularities in government agencies.
Among other government agencies, the CoA had flagged the Department of Health for noncompliance with laws in spending the P67.3-billion fund for the country’s fight against Covid-19.
It called out the Health department for questionable procurement, unutilized medical equipment and nonpayment of Covid-19 allowance, among others, for health care workers.
