POC, PSC urge audit of NSA financial books

THE PHILIPPINE Olympic Committee will now require national sports associations to submit their books to a credible auditing firm on an annual basis.

Local Olympic chief Jose “Peping” Cojuangco Jr. said the POC executive board had decided to secure the services of an external auditor after the Commission on Audit instructed the Philippine Sports Commission to file cases against NSAs with outstanding financial obligations.

The PSC recently bared that around 20 NSAs have unliquidated advances worth P21 million.

“We will obligate NSAs to hire a reputable auditing firm to look at their books every year,” said Cojuangco. “We should set a norm so that we will not encounter the same problem with the COA over and over again.”

PSC chair Richie Garcia said the agency will soon release the list of NSAs with unliquidated funds.

Garcia explained that a number of NSAs find it impossible to clear their accounts since most of their financial assistance from the government was made 10 to 15 years ago under a different administration.

“How can we settle those accounts if the NSA officials who requested the financial assistance are gone?” said Cojuangco. “If the present NSA leaders can prove that there’s no way to recover the receipts or purchase documents, we could probably ask the COA to write it off.”