The University Student Government (USG) Legislative Assembly (LA) held its sixth regular session of the year to discuss the resolutions calling for the appointments of auditors under the Commission on Audit (COA).
The LA commenced the session by approving the minutes of the September 23 session. Shortly after, the LA proceeded to deliberate on the resolutions calling for the approval of auditor appointments under the COA. The floor agreed to a 10-minute interview for each of the appointees.
Majority of the COA appointees, however, were absent. Only Jessie Lee and Caroline Seculles were present during the session. Nonetheless, the LA proceeded with the voting and approval procedures.
Among the questions raised in the interviews were the qualifications and experiences of the appointees, as well as their knowledge in COA procedures and issued faced by the commission in the past.
According to Seculles, one of the main tasks of COA is to check if the different USG units have complete documentation. She added that the COA follows a materiality level for whenever there are discrepancies in the financial information being submitted by the USG units.
Lee, on the other hand, stated his belief that the units with discrepancies in finances should be penalized.
The floor also probed into Lee’s involvement in Ang Pahayagang Plaridel (APP). Lee was asked how he would ensure confidentiality in terms of releasing financial data from COA. Lee explained that he could not release all the information to APP, and that there needed to be a set limit of information that can be shared.
The appointments of Lee and Seculles were approved. The floor also approved the appointment of those not present during the session.
Following the approval of the appointees, the LA called on a motion to remove parliamentary procedures to discuss their comments and recommendations for each of the auditors.
Along with Lee and Seculles, the following are the new COA auditors: Caren Bacera, Kyle Noriega, Margarette Reyes, Nicole Wee, Jon Lascano, Angelica Uy, Jean Isip, and Angelo Terrel.
With reports from Vivean Pallera
