OPA recommendations ignored

The Office of the Public Auditor is closely working with the commission created by Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio to ensure swift actions are taken by agencies on recommendations issued by the autonomous government accounting agency.

This, as the OPA disclosed that about 82 percent of all recommendations issued as of end-June 1999 are considered delinquents because of the respective government agencies’ failure to put in place immediate solutions.

A report released Monday revealed that OPA has issued 34 recommendations in the first half of the calendar year, which add up to the existing 194 suggestions still to be acted upon by offices that were audited.

Only 42 of the 228 recommendations issued by end-June 2000 were considered closed while 186 remain pending, awaiting action from concerned government agencies, according to Public Auditor Leo LaMotte in a letter to the IACAG.

Mr. LaMotte said 159 of the 186 open recommendations are now considered delinquent since concerned agencies fail to take action within the 180-day grace period.

He explained that recommendations are considered delinquent if these remain outstanding for 180 days and OPA has not been informed of any action being taken to close the case.

The OPA report also noted that 31 of the 159 delinquent recommendations were issued between 1999 and 2000, while 128 were issued during the years covering 1994-1998.

The increasing number of delinquent recommendations had prompted OPA to urge the governor to assign an official from the government who will pursue the closure of open and resolved recommendations.

In response, Mr. Tenorio last year appointed Finance Secretary Lucy Nielsen and Commerce Secretary Frank Villanueva to the audit coordinating body, while instructing all department and activity heads to work closely with the group to resolve all outstanding recommendations.

In 1999, the number of delinquent recommendations issued by OPA soared 18 percent to 181 from the previous year’s 153, indicating several government agencies’ apparent neglect in taking prompt action to address financial loopholes.

The finance department topped the Public Auditor’s list of CNMI government agencies that are unable to act on the several recommendations it issued last year.

DOF failed to take action on at least 50 recommendations issued by the OPA in its 18 audit investigation reports for the agency in 1999, while the Department of Public Safety failed to address 11 loopholes identified by the Public Auditor in its report.

The Commonwealth Ports Authority and the Department of Lands and Natural Resources are still to act on 10 recommendations each by the OPA. OPA conducted five audit investigations for CPA and three for the DLNR last year.

In a year-end report, Mr. LaMotte explained that 19 of the 76 audit recommendations issued by the OPA in 1998 became delinquent last year which contributed to the increase in the number of derelict recommendations in 1999.

This does not include the nine new recommendations issued by the Public Auditor in 1999, with which government agencies failed to take action on.

Mr. LaMotte noted progress in the implementation of the recommendations issued by the OPA from 1994 to 1997, with a total of 57 delinquent recommendations now considered closed.

However, the public auditor disclosed that the agencies did not act on most of the delinquent recommendations since events actually overtook the need for those approbation.