By Maricel Cruz in Manila Standard Today

Former National Treasurer Leonor Briones on Tuesday questioned the unconstitutional provision in  the Bangsamoro Basic Law allowing the Bangsamoro juridical entity to conduct its own parallel audit apart from the mandate of the Commission on Audit.

During a hearing conducted by the ad hoc committee on the BBL, Briones, also convenor of Social Watch Philippines and a professor from the National College of Public Administration and Governance, said the proposal would only delay the audit function of the CoA which is mandated by the 1987 Constitution as having the sole power to conduct the government’s fiscal scrutiny.

Briones said that all financial vouchers for the block grant—a funding worth four percent of the sixty percent of the total annual tax collection of the national government which will be an automatic appropriation under the yearly national budget --  of the Bangsamoro juridical entity will be audited by its own audit team.

“The major concern about block grant is the  question of accountability because the bill proposes the creation of an audit body for Bangsamoro and at the same time recognizes the authority of the Commission on Audit,” Briones said.  “This has to be clarified, the question your honor is what happens if the finding of national audit body will be different from the local audit body?”