Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco affirmed the Department of Tourism’s (DOT) unwavering commitment to full compliance with audit rules, transparency, and fiscal prudence, following the CY 2024 Commission on Audit (COA) Exit Conference held at the DOT Central Office.
The annual COA Exit Conference serves as a vital platform for COA to present its audit findings, observations, and recommendations to the DOT Management. It also provides the Department an opportunity to address audit concerns, demonstrate accountability, and discuss the implementation of improvements.
This year’s conference encompassed the Summary of Audit Observations and Recommendations (SAOR), the Status of Implementation of Prior Year’s Audit Recommendations (SIPYAR), and highlights from the 2024 audit. The active participation of COA auditors and key DOT officials, including Undersecretaries, Assistant Secretaries, Regional Directors (via Zoom), Finance and Administrative Service teams, and other Central Office officials, underscored a shared dedication to upholding good governance and sound financial management.
In her remarks, Secretary Frasco expressed profound gratitude to COA and its auditing team for their invaluable guidance and partnership in safeguarding the Department’s financial integrity. “I learned so much today. We appreciate the guidance, because that is what we seek to have in terms of being able to fully comply with all of the audit rules, especially procurement rules. Please be assured that our priority is to ensure full transparency, and to demand discipline and fiscal prudence in terms of our operating units in the central office, our tourism attachés abroad, as well as our regional offices,” Secretary Frasco stated.
She further emphasized the DOT’s commitment to maximizing the impact of public funds. “We face enormous challenges, but at the same time, we always seek to ensure that money entrusted to us is devoted to the purpose for which it was allocated—and more than that, that the returns for the country and our countrymen are ten, twenty-, thirty-fold,” Secretary Frasco added.
COA officials present at the Exit Conference included Supervising Auditor Brenda Degala, OIC Audit Team Leader Atty. George Almeda, State Auditor Gladys Gregorio, and State Auditing Examiner Sittie Aynah Manda, among others.
