COA cites personnel shortage in Bulacan engineering office for failure to detect flood control scam

The Commission on Audit (COA) cited a severe shortage of personnel in its Bulacan First District Engineering Office as the primary reason why auditors failed to detect the alleged flood control scam.

This office is considered the center of the corruption scandal involving ghost flood control projects.

COA Chairperson Gamaliel Cordoba stated that only two auditors were assigned to oversee numerous projects across 11 municipalities, three cities, and eight Land Transportation Offices in the district.

Cordoba described this workload as impossibly large for the limited staff.

He further explained that the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) had previously reduced COA's nationwide positions by 963, with 136 of those cuts affecting Region 3, which includes Bulacan.