Republic of the Philippines

COMMISSION ON AUDIT
Office of the Audit Team Leader
Cluster 8, Audit Group F, Team 39
Department of Agrarian Reform
Provincial Office of Bukidnon
Airport Village, Casisang, Malaybalay City

AOM No.: 2020-002-(2019)

Date: February 10, 2020

AUDIT OBSERVATION MEMORANDUM (AOM)

For: ENGR. NORBERTO PAQUINGAN, DM

Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer II
Department of Agrarian Reform
Provincial Office of Bukidnon
Malaybalay City

Attention: MS. EDITA A. JAMIS

Accountant II

We have reviewed the disbursements of Department of Agrarian Reform Provincial

Office of Bukidnon (DARPO-Bukidnon) covering January to October 2019 transactions and
observed the following deficiency:

The Agency paid Quarters Allowance to the Provincial Agrarian Reform

Program Officer II (PARPO II) for the months covering January to
October 2019 in the amount of P 14,000.00, contrary to the guidelines
provided in the National Budget Circular (NBC) No. 571 s.2017 dated
December 4, 2017, hence making the transaction unauthorized.

Section 61 of the General Provisions of the General Appropriations Act (GAA) for
Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 10 provides that “Officials who are transferred from one station to
another by virtue of agency policies on reshuffling or rotation of personnel and do not own
houses or rooms therein, shall be provided free quarters within their office premise. Where
there are no available quarters, the agency may rent rooms which shall serve as quarters for
said officials…”

Meanwhile, NBC No. 571 dated December 4, 2017 of the Department of Budget and
Management (DBM) prescribed the guidelines on the provision of free quarters to certain
officials, in which it specified that only the Department Regional Directors, Department
Assistant Regional Directors, Bureau Regional Directors and Bureau Regional Assistant
Directors are entitled to the said privilege.
 Post-audit review of the Disbursement Vouchers (DVs) covering the months of
January to October 2019 showed that the agency disbursed an aggregate amount of P
14,000.00 for the apartment rental of the PARPO II, broken down as follows:

Check/ADA
DV/Payroll No. Payee Nature of Payment Amount Paid
Date Serial No.

2019-07-1690- To payment of quarter

7/4/2019 108102
101
VIRGILIO R. DEVERA JR.
allowance-June 2019
P 3,500.00
2019-07-1886- Payment of quarter allowance-
7/17/2019 108118
101
VIRGILIO R. DEVERA JR.
July 2019
3,500.00
2019-09-2055- Payment of quarter allowance-
9/9/2019 108161
101
VIRGILIO R. DEVERA JR.
August 2019
3,500.00
10/21/201 2019-10-2925- Cash advance for the payment
9
10-243-2019
101
VIRGILIO R. DEVERA JR.
of quarter allowance
3,500.00
P 14,000.00

It is of note that the PARPO II position is under the supervision of the Department of
Agrarian (DAR) Regional Director with a Salary Grade (SG)-28 and Assistant Regional
Director with SG-27. As such, the PARPO II position under the organizational structure of
DAR is not equivalent to a Bureau Regional and Assistant Regional Director position,
respectively who are entitled to avail of free quarter or Quarters Allowance (Annex A).

Consequently, the PARPO II of DARPO- Bukidnon is not entitled to claim the said
allowance as mandated under Section 61 of the General Provisions of GAA for FY 2019 and
NBC No. 571, s.2017 dated December 4, 2017.

We recommend that Management should stop the granting of Quarters

Allowance to PARPO II in compliance with the General Provisions of the GAA for FY
2019 and NBC No. 571, s.2017 dated December 4, 2017.

May we have your comments on the foregoing audit observation within five (5)
calendar days from receipt hereof.

JOSIE J. RODRIGUEZ
State Auditor V
Regional Supervising Auditor
and Audit Team Leader, in concurrent capacity

Proof of Receipt:

Name Position/Designation Received by Date

(Pls print and sign)
Engr. Norberto Paquingan, DM PARPO II
Ms. Edita A. Jamis Accountant II