Taekwondo ends campaign with 4 more bronze medals

PHNOM PENH.—The Philippine taekwondo team capped a successful campaign in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games by winning four bronze medals

Tuesday.

Joseph Chua (men’s under-65kg), Dave Cea (men’s -80kg), Baby Dessica Canabal (women’s -53kg) and Lai la Delo (women’s -67kg) delivered podium finishes as the charging jins wrapped up their stint with six gold m edals, one silver and eight bronzes.

The Filipinos easily surpassed their 2-5-3 gold-silver-bronze tally last year in Hanoi.

“Our team performed better compared to the last Vietnam SEA Games,” head of delegation Rocky Samson said.

Leading the medal rush were poomsae champs Patrick Perez (men’s individual), Jocel Lyn Ninobla, Nicole Labayne and Aidine

Laxa (women’s team) and kyorugi rulers Kurt Barbosa (men’s finweight), Arven Alcantara (men’s featherweight), Samuel Morrison (men’s middleweight) and Elaine Alora (women’s middleweight).

Perez accounted for the lone silver in partnership with Ian Corton and Joaquin Tuzon in the recognized poomsae men’s team event.

Other bronze medalists were Ninobla and Corton (recognized poomsae mixed pair), Jeordan Dominguez, Darius Venerable, Justin Macario, Juvenile Faye Crisostomo and Zyka Angelica Santiago (freestyle mixed team), Veronica Garces (women’s -45kg), Nicole McCann (women’s -57kg).

The jins more than lived up to expectations.

“We were targeting four golds—at least two in poomsae and two in kyorugi,” Samson said.

Philippines

ON AUDIT Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City

The Government of the Philippines is a signatory to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). In compliance with the Paris Agreement, Republic Act (RA) No. 9729 , or the Climate Change Act of 2009, was enacted and was subsequently amended by RA No. 101742. Thereafter, Department of Budget and Management (DBM)-Climate Change Commission (CCC) Joint Memorandum Circular (JMC) No. 2013-013, as amended by DBM-CCC JMC No. 2015-014, was issued to provide the guidelines CCET in the GAAs.

In view of its international commitments in the UNFCCC, the Paris Agreement, and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the National Government (NG) has incorporated various programs on climate change in the Updated Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2017-20225 towards achieving the vision of AmBisyon Natin 2040

For its part, the CCC crafted the National Climate Change Action Plan (NCCAP) and the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) as the country’s guide to the long-term development plan towards a climate-resilient and low-carbon pathway.

Accordingly, the NG has mobilized the budget preparation process to tag climate change expenditures using a common policy-based typology and guidelines. It developed the Risk Resiliency Program that constitutes a major part of the overall climate change expenditure. Recent developments in the budget system of the DBM strengthen the process of tracking, monitoring, and reporting climate change expenditure; and performance-informed budget outcome. Also, performance indicators specific to climate change expenditures have been formulated in sync with the NCCAP.6 Sections 36 and 37, General Provisions, GAAs of Fiscal Years (FYs) 2020 and 2021, respectively, provide the mainstreaming of disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation and mitigation in all agency programs and projects. Further, Section 38, General Provisions, GAA FY 2021 provides the directive for climate budget tagging.7 Thus, the CCC has summarized the other climate change-related provisions in the GAAs for FYs 2020 and 2021, Annex “A” hereof. It identified all government agencies in the GAAs with CCET and required them to submit to CCC their budget utilization to implement their respective programs on climate change.

In view of the importance of assessing the implementation of government PAPs with CCET, this Commission provides the audit guidelines pursuant to its power to examine, audit and settle all accounts of government; and exclusive authority to define the scope of its audit and examination, establish the techniques and methods required therefor, and promulgate accounting and auditing rules and regulations.8

II. PURPOSE

This Circular is issued to provide the guidelines in the audit of PAPs with CCET to validate the budget utilization and implementation in accordance with the laws, rules and regulations; and assess whether climate change programs have been implemented in accordance with the principles of economy, effectiveness and efficiency.

III. COVERAGE

This Circular covers the audit of PAPs with climate change tagged expenditures in the GAAs beginning FY 2021 onwards.

IV. DEFINITION OF TERMS

1. Audit of programs with CCET - refers to a comprehensive audit of a government agency’s policies, funds, programs, projects, and activities on the area of climate change adaptation and mitigation to determine: (1) the economy, efficiency, and effectiveness; (2) the fair presentation of the financial statements of the audited agencies, in accordance with the government and accounting standards and applicable reporting framework; and (3) the compliance with the government auditing laws, rules and regulations on the interventions addressing climate change issues and its impacts and transition to a low-carbon economy.

2. Climate Change (CC) - refers to a change in climate that can be identified by changes in the mean and/or variability of its properties and that persists for an extended period, typically decades or longer, whether due to natural variability or as a result of human activity.

3. Climate Change Adaptation - refers to the adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli or their effects, which moderates harm or exploits beneficial opportunities.10

4. Climate Change Mitigation - refers to human intervention to address anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks all GHG, including ozone-depleting substances and their substitutes.11

5. COA Wide Audit Risk Assessment Matrix - a matrix that documents the key government risks identified, selected, and prioritized as a result of risk analysis and risk evaluation, and contains the planned response to key government risks.

6. Government Risk Model (GRM) - a framework consisting of risk categorized into groups that could threaten the government agencies as a whole or a specific processes of government agencies. GRM includes a definition of each risk for Audit Teams to have a common understanding of risks.

7. NCCAP - refers to the Philippines’ long-term plan to operationalize the Framework Strategy on Climate Change, with specific programs and strategies for climate change adaptation and mitigation to enhance the adaptive capacity of communities, resilience of natural ecosystems, and sustainability of built environment and transition towards climate-smart development.

8. NDC - refers to the national plan and strategy of the Philippines to reduce and avoid national emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change in view of the Paris Agreement of 2015.

9. Voluntary National Review (VNR) - refers to a process through which countries assess and present progress made in achieving the global goals and the pledge to leave no one behind. The purpose of VNRs is to present a snapshot of where the country stands in SDG implementation, with a view to help accelerate progress through experience sharing, peer-learning, identifying gaps and good practices, and mobilizing partnerships.

V. GENERAL GUIDELINES

1. Audit of the CCET shall consist of: a. Financial and compliance audits of funds tagged as climate change adaptation or mitigation; and b. Performance audit of climate change PAPs which shall include the determination of the economy, efficiency, and effectiveness of the agency’s PAPs in addressing climate change responses as approved by the CCC. It shall include an assessment of whether the climate change responses are aligned and contribute to the attainment of the program goals and the Philippines’ commitments on climate change related goals and targets under the SDG 13 – Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.

2. An annual financial audit of funds on the CCET and PAPs of national government agencies and government-owned or controlled corporations with appropriation for climate change in the GAA shall be conducted and included in the identified audit thrusts to be integrated in the regular audit of the agency. The audit shall be conducted in accordance with the Financial Audit Manual (FAM).

3. An annual compliance audit shall be conducted on the CCET and its PAPs in accordance with the Compliance Audit Manual (CAM) under COA Resolution No. 2020-011 dated January 31, 2020.

4. The performance audit shall be undertaken in accordance with COA Resolution No. 2017-012 dated August 17, 2017, which established the Performance Audit Office under the Special Services Sector and transferred thereto the Government-wide and Sectoral Performance Audit and the agency-based value-for-money audit component of the comprehensive audit. The conduct of performance audit shall be guided by the Performance Audit Manual (PAM) prescribed under COA Resolution No. 2020-007 dated January 31, 2020.

5. The Commission conducts performance audits to help government agencies better perform their mandate and achieve program goals and objectives. Performance auditing promotes accountability by assisting those with governance and oversight responsibilities to improve performance. The audit shall assess the extent PAPs with CCET have contributed to the attainment of the goals and objectives of NCCAP, NDC and relevant PDP chapters and SDGs. Sex-disaggregated data and gender statistics shall always be considered in the audit of climate change PAPs.

6. The audit of CCET shall always be a priority area in the conduct of regular audit of agencies with resident audit teams. In case of agencies being audited under the audit team approach where time and resources are limited, the audit of the CCET PAPs will depend on the result of risk assessment and identification, and materiality of the funds involved.

7. The Supervising Auditor (SA)/Audit Team Leader (ATL) of government agencies concerned shall require the submission of sex-disaggregated data and reports on climate change; and encourage the auditees to conduct climate change mainstreaming or self-assessment, particularly in the following areas: a. Use of climate change and disaster risk information in determining the agency’s PAPs to address climate change; b. Determining the agency’s compliance with existing laws and regulations on climate change responses, which can be either or both with respect to adaptation and/or mitigation, as well as on the utilization of funds under the GAAs; c. Compliance of the agency’s plans and PAPs with the NCCAP, PDP, AmBisyon Natin 2040 and the NDC; and d. Monitoring of the use of funds tagged or appropriated for climate change.

8. Financial and compliance audits of CCET PAPs of agencies concerned shall be mandatory for the first three (3) years of implementation of this Circular when mainstreaming of climate change is in progress. Thereafter, the SA/ATL concerned shall determine the necessity of conducting a detailed audit of such funds and activities based on the risk assessment of the audit teams, or in the following instances, when: a. required as part of the COA’s commitment to the government’s development plan and/or international conventions; b. there is reasonable request for such audit from the public or other clients of COA; c. required by funding institutions, i.e., funds are sourced from grants, donations, or loans from international or local funding institutions aside from the agency’s budget; under the heading “Climate Change Expenditure Tagging.” A separate report shall be prepared when required by the Commission and funding institutions such as international organizations.

10. A consolidated report on the results of the audit of CCET funds and corresponding implementation of PAPs shall be submitted by the Cluster 1, National Government Audit Sector (NGAS) to the CCC.

11. COA may tap the assistance of the CCC, through the CCET Helpdesk, in executing and implementing the provisions of this Guidelines.

VI. SPECIFIC GUIDELINES

A. FINANCIAL AND COMPLIANCE AUDIT ON CCET

1. Audit of CCET shall be conducted simultaneous with the audit of the agency’s financial statements. The audit shall determine, among others, whether the agency has submitted a CCET Quality Assurance and Review (QAR) Form, Annex “B” hereof, and approved by the CCC.

2. Audit of CCET shall ascertain, among others, whether funds for climate change PAPs were indeed appropriated and properly utilized for that purpose. Audit procedures shall be designed to validate whether the agency’s climate changetagged budget was allocated as fund to support climate change PAPs as provided in the approved QAR Form with corresponding National Expenditure Program.

3. The audit shall also look into the specific budget items where climate change responses are tagged and drawn, such as Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE), and Capital Outlay; and verify whether these are in accordance with the existing laws, rules and regulations on climate change.

4. Climate change responses shall be considered as one of the main processes of the financial audit as provided under the FAM and CAM (i.e., strategic planning and risk identification, planning [agency audit planning and risk assessment], delivery [execution, conclusion, and reporting], and monitoring [quality control]). The area of CCET shall always be considered in the development of the GRM, the COA Wide Audit Risk Assessment Matrix, the Agency Risk Model, and other templates designed to identify and/or develop the audit response to the identified risk.

5. Funds for climate change may be used for: and the Annual Training Plan; and c. Equipment or capital outlay, provided that:

• Capacity development on CC, including meals and snacks, honoraria, transportation of lecturers, trainers, participants, and resource persons, supplies and materials, and incidental expenses for CC trainings and meetings, are in reasonable amounts.

• Procurement of property, plant and equipment, infrastructure or capital outlay is included in the approved QARs, and in the APP; and

• Procurement is in accordance with RA No. 9184, or the Government Procurement Reform Act.

6. Compliance with existing laws, rules and regulations on climate change should be considered (e.g., NCCAP, DBM-CCC JMC No. 2015-01, NDC, annual DBM Memorandum on the National Budget Call, and annual GAAs).

7. With respect to the initial implementation of this Circular, emphasis shall be made on the agency’s compliance with existing laws, rules and regulations on climate change. The data on the initial implementation of climate change mainstreaming in the agency shall be secured and evaluated.

8. In addition to existing laws, rules and regulations on climate change responses, the following may be used as authorities/criteria in the conduct of compliance audit: a. R.A No. 9729, as amended by RA No. 10174; b. Reports made by the CCC; c. SDG 13 – Climate Actions; and d. PDP Chapters on climate change.

10. The NGAS and Corporate Government Audit Sector Clusters concerned shall submit a report on the results of the audit of CCET funds and PAPs implemented to NGAS Cluster - 1, not later than August 15 of each year, for consolidation and to be submitted to the CCC every September 30 of each year.

B. PERFORMANCE AUDIT OF CLIMATE CHANGE PAPs

In line with the International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions (ISSAI) 300012 and the Performance Audit Manual,13 the audit topics for performance audit shall undergo selection and prioritization through strategic audit planning process. The selected and prioritized topics, are embodied in the COA Performance Audit Portfolio. To be included in the portfolio, NGAS Cluster - 1 shall submit audit topic proposals relating to climate change adaptation and mitigation PAPs for consideration in the strategic planning. The proposal should capture the emerging issues and risks by NCCAP strategic priorities with the aim of maximizing the expected impact of the audit.

The audit of implementation of SDG 13 on Climate Action can be included in the Performance Audit Portfolio as a priority topic when the Philippine Government shall render VNR to the United Nations Political Forum. The audit results shall serve as inputs to the VNR.

In instances where climate change adaptation and mitigation streaming efforts form part of implementation of a government program subject of performance audit, the audit will cover the efficiency, economy, and effectiveness of these efforts in contributing to the attainment of program goals and objectives as well as relevant SDG targets.

The performance audit shall be undertaken by the Performance Audit Office and/or the Performance Audit Units/Services in the audit sectors once they are established.

The audit planning at engagement level and conducting the performance audit and follow-up audit to include assessment of audit impact shall be conducted in accordance with the prescribed PAM.

VII. RESPONSIBILITY OF THE AUDITED AGENCY

The audited agencies shall mainstream climate adaptation and mitigation initiatives in its annual PAPs. It shall also submit within five (5) working days from receipt of the approved

QAR from the CCC, a copy of the annual climate change plan, as an annex to BP Form No. 201-F or

Vic Sotto and Maja Salvador (second and third from left, standing) forms a dynamic duo for their upcoming sitcom ‘Open 24/7’

By Angelica Villanueva

PREPARE yourself for an entertaining Saturday as Vic Sotto stars in a new sitcom alongside Maja Salvador, forming a dynamic duo that promises laughter and entertainment.

Working together in a TV series for the first time, Vic and Maja had nothing but praise for each other in their respective fields. Maja is renowned for her versatility as an actress, while Bossing has made his mark in the comedy and hosting industry over several decades.

“Bossing doesn’t believe in ‘filters.’ What you see in him, whether it’s through Zoom or in person, that’s exactly how he is. And you can feel that you’re welcome. He really wants you to be part of Bulaga, he wants you to be part of the sitcom. And he makes you feel that he trusts you, so no matter what you do... it’s okay with him, that’s why it’s easygoing,” explained Maja.

The actress, who happens to be a close friend of Bossing’s wife, Pauleen Luna, was given the opportunity to work in Open 24/7 when she became part of the longest-running noontime show, Eat Bulaga!.

“As for Maja, we were together in Bulaga for almost two years. She’s not a stranger to me anymore. When we were doing the casting, I immediately felt at ease because I know, we all know, that she’s a very versatile actress. Not only is she great at acting, but she can also sing, dance, and almost do everything,” stated the veteran host.

Bossing Vic and Maja will portray the roles of Boss EZ and Mikaela in Open 24/7, respectively.

Responsible for managing a convenience store.

Mikaela’s character, on the other hand, is introduced as someone who enters the lives of the store owners and becomes a humorous and lively crew member alongside Boss EZ.