Case Digest: MANUEL LECAYCO v. COMMISSION ON AUDIT 482 SCRA 215 (2006)

MANUEL LECAYCO v. COMMISSION ON AUDIT 482 SCRA 215 (2006)

Petitioner Manuel Lecayco, Jr. (Lecayco) was the Provincial Treasurer of Oriental Mindoro and at the same time an appointed member of Inspectorate Team of the Provincial School Board (PSB). The Special Audit Team of the Commission on Audit (COA) Regional Office allegedly found deficiencies on the checks issued by the PSB of Oriental Mindoro. The funds are covered by the Special Education‘s Fund (SEF). The COA then issued Notices of Disallowance holding Lecayco and other members of Sangguniang Panlalawigan liable for signing the Certificates of Inspection and falsely attesting to its 100% completion. Lecayco appealed to the COA maintaining that he is not liable, since as a member of the Inspectorate Team, his duty is limited to “monitoring the progress of PSB projects”. However, the COA denied such appeal.

ISSUE:

Whether or not the COA has the authority to hold Lecayco liable as a member of the Inspectorate Team 

HELD:

In light of this function of the Inspectorate Team, its members may be held liable by the COA for any irregular expenditure of the SEF if their participation in such irregularity can be established. While Lecayno, in his capacity as member of the Inspectorate Team, is not an accountable officer as contemplated in Section 101 of P.D. No. 1445, he may, nonetheless, be held liable by the COA under the broad jurisdiction vested on it by the Constitution ―to examine, audit, and settle all accounts pertaining to the revenue and receipts of, and expenditures or uses of funds and property, owned or held in trust by, or pertaining to, the Government. In addition, the authority of the COA to hold Lecayno liable is also implied in its duty to ―promulgate accounting and auditing rules and regulations, including those for the prevention and disallowance of irregular, unnecessary, excessive, extravagant, or unconscionable expenditures, or uses of government funds and properties. Since, as earlier noted, payment should not be made to a contractor without the prior inspection of the project by the Inspectorate Team, the members thereof who sign the certificate of inspection participate in the use and application of local government funds (in this case, the Special Education Fund of the Province of Oriental Mindoro). Thus, if there is an irregularity in the performance of this duty, they may be held liable for any loss that is incurred by the government as a consequence thereof. In this case, there was such irregularity when Lecayco and other members of the Team attested to the 100% completion of the projects notwithstanding their undisputed deficiencies.