MANILA – The Commission on Audit (COA) flagged down the Office of the President (OP) for not recording the unused spare parts in President Rodrigo Duterte’s presidential helicopter.
In its annual audit report for 2017, the COA stated that the spare parts worth P51.5 million were not included in the inventory for the maintenance of transportation equipment of the OP.
“We conducted inspection at the PAW (Presidential Airlift Wing) warehouse and found that there were uninstalled/unused aircraft spare parts and materials with a total cost of P51,525,833.54,” COA said.
The spare parts must be included in the Report on the Physical Count of Inventories (RPCI) as stated in the Government Accounting Manual, especially since the OP already spent P177 million for the maintenance of the fleet, COA added.
“The P51-million spare parts were thus deemed consumed even if they have yet to be installed on the helicopters,” COA said. “The uninstalled items were not included in the RPCI as at December 31, 2017 which is used to report the physical count of supplies by type of inventory as at a given date and shoes the balance of inventory items per card and per count and its shortage or overage.”
The PAW, which maintains a fleet of five BELL Textron 412 helicopters, is the one providing air transport for the President, his family, and state guests but it was the OP that is responsible for the funds needed for maintenance and general overhauls.
“OP chief accountant must record the cost of purchase in its books, require a quarterly report from PAW on the utilized inventory items and conduct physical count of items in its warehouse,” COA said./PN
