COMMISSION ON AUDIT CIRCULAR NO.

79-94-A July 18, 1979

TO : All Heads of Departments; Chiefs of Bureaus, Agencies and Offices; Managing

Heads of Government-Owned and/or Controlled Corporations; Provincial
Governors and City Mayors; Provincial and City Treasurers; Managers, COA
Regional Directors, Assistant Managers, Assistant COA Regional Directors,
Supervising Auditors and Chiefs of Division; Corporate, Provincial, City, Ministry
and Bureau Auditors and Other Heads of Auditing Units; and All Others
Concerned.

SUBJECT : Amendment of Section 17 of the "Manual on Countersigning Authority of the

Officials of the Commission on Audit".

In the interest of the service, Section 17 of the "Manual on Countersigning Authority of

the Officials of the Commission on Audit," which was circularized under COA Circular No. 79-94,
dated, January 5, 1979, is hereby amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 17. Treasury Warrants and Checks Not Subject to Limitations.-

Notwithstanding the limitations provided in Section 12 of this Manual, the Unit
Auditor or Auditor-in-Charge or, in his absence, the Assistant Auditor or official
next-in-rank, is delegated to countersign warrants and checks drawn by the
government agency under his audit jurisdiction, irrespective of amount, in favor
of the following payees:

(a) Cashiers and special disbursing officers of the bureaus, political

subdivisions and instrumentalities of the Government for cash
advances for salaries and other authorized purposes;

(b) Bureaus, offices, political subdivisions and instrumentalities of the

Government, including government-owned or controlled
corporations for transactions undertaken in the concept of their
main functions (e.g. government shipping line for cost of freight
shipped by a government agency; payment of custom duties for
government importation and other similar transactions);

(c) The Philippine National Bank, Development Bank of the

Philippines, Philippine Veterans Bank, Land Bank of the
Philippines and other authorized depository banks for deposit to
the credit or provinces, chartered cities, municipalities, branches
and field agencies of government-owned or controlled
corporations, and national agencies, including government
hospitals;

(d) Any person, natural or juridical, for transactions inherently

involved in trading operations undertaken by government
agencies, particularly government-owned or controlled
corporations, pursuant to the principal objective as defined in their
respective charters or laws of creation (e.g. purchase by National
 Grains Authority of grains and other related items needed for grain
operations);

(e) Duly registered oil companies, such as Caltex, Mobil, Shell, etc.
for bulk purchase of oil, gasoline and other sources of energy
needed for maintenance and operation (service stations retailing
fuel products are not included);

(f) Any person, natural or juridical, for light, water, rent of office
buildings and equipment, janitorial services and other operating
expenses, provided that in the case of operating expenses other
than for light and water, the warrant or check covering the first
payment under the contract involved shall be submitted for
countersignature to the supervising officials under whose authority
the amount of said first payment shall fall; and

(g) Beneficiaries or clients of socially-oriented projects where speed

of processing is a critical element in the delivery of services (e.g.
landowners for land transfers made by the Land Bank of the
Philippines under the Agrarian Reform Law).

(h) Any provision of the said Manual which is inconsistent herewith

shall be deemed amended, modified or superseded accordingly.

This amendment shall take effect immediately.

(SGD.) FRANCISCO S. TANTUICO, JR., Acting Chairman