COA flags town for PHP 1.8M in ‘unnecessary seminars’

By Gerome Dalipe

The Commission on Audit (COA) has flagged the Pavia municipal government for spending nearly PHP 1.8 million on seminars and training programs in 2024 that were largely unrelated to employees’ official duties.

In its 2024 annual audit report, COA criticized the municipality for “inefficient utilization of government resources,” citing cases where training trips — including those held outside Region 6 — were treated as unofficial “time-off from work.”

Auditors reviewed 42 sample transactions and found PHP 793,000 in training-related expenses and PHP 1.010 million in travel costs. The report said these expenditures violated Presidential Decree No. 1445, also known as the Government Auditing Code of the Philippines.

The review showed that many of the courses attended were either irrelevant to the participants’ roles or lacked proper justification.

For example, 12 employees joined a Basic Occupational Safety and Health (BOSH) course even though they were not formally designated as safety officers. Some seminars were approved solely at the discretion of department heads, despite the absence of a required Training Needs Assessment (TNA) since 2023.

In a response to COA’s findings, the municipal accountant said that some employees were allowed to attend distant seminars primarily “as a time-off from work, so that they could have a breather and be more productive when they return to work.”

COA emphasized that no TNA had been conducted since 2023, effectively allowing department heads to determine training attendance without a structured evaluation process.

Even a seminar attended by accounting staff — which was relevant to Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) reporting — was flagged for violating COA’s rule that training should primarily benefit employees whose core duties would be “greatly impacted.”

The audit report urged the municipal mayor to establish accountability measures and adopt stricter policies to prevent wasteful spending.

COA recommended limiting training attendance to employees whose roles would directly benefit from the program, requiring annual TNAs, restricting approval to relevant courses, and ensuring participants are properly designated before attending specialized seminars.