The Commission on Audit (COA) announced Thursday that Joint Memorandum Circular (JMC) 2015-01 may undergo major revisions following widespread public and legal scrutiny over the proper utilization and auditing of secret government funds.
Speaking before senators during the Senate Committee on Finance’s budget hearing, COA Commissioner Douglas Michael Malillin explained that key provisions of the JMC need to be modified to adapt to modern auditing challenges, noting that the document was promulgated 11 years ago.
“After all the concerns and issues that were raised regarding confidential and intelligence funds, we are taking a look at the Joint Memorandum Circular which was issued in 2015, practically 11 years ago, and the last circular that was issued by COA was also in 1992,” Malillin told lawmakers.
Malillin stated that COA will meet with the co-issuing agencies, the Department of Budget and Management, Department of National Defense, Department of the Interior and Local Government, and the Governance Commission for Government-Owned and Controlled Corporations, to review and update the joint policy framework, which governs the entitlement, release, disbursement, reporting and auditing procedures for confidential and intelligence funds.
According to Malillin, specific areas marked for evaluation include determining what documentary evidence is required to support cash disbursements, establishing clear rules on verifying the identities of individuals using aliases, and protecting the true identities of secret informants while ensuring valid verification. The review will also address defining allowable expenditure categories for confidential funds, improving secure document storage, and re-evaluating the issuance of Credit Notices and Notices of Disallowance.
“COA and the other agencies are also taking a look at the process of issuing the Credit Notices and how the Notice of Disallowances should be actually dealt with,” Malillin added.