COA calls out SC on P101 million unused fund

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Audit (COA) has called out the Supreme Court (SC) over P101.255 million in unutilized funds intended for the Mandatory Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) of lawyers.

In its 2022 annual audit report on the High Court, the COA noted that of the P104.884-million MCLE Fund for 2022, only 3.46 percent or P3.629 million was utilized by the SC’s MCLE Office or MCLEO as of year-end, leaving a balance of P101.255 million.

The audit body noted that MCLEO had posted an extremely low fund utilization rate since 2018, without any amount used for special projects that would have improved the legal education of Bar members.

The COA’s figure showed that the MCLEO in 2018 only utilized P2.442 million of its P77.262-million fund; in 2019, P6.829 million of P86.263 million; in 2020, P3.100 million of P87.617 million; and in 2021, P3.063 million of P88.618 million.

The COA also noted that MCLEO’s yearly fund utilization was low despite its high cash collections from accreditation, certification, late filing, non-compliance and other fees in connection with the implementation of the MCLE program.

The COA pointed out that in 2022 alone, the MCLEO had P16.233 million in cash collections, “more than enough” to cover its P3.629-million expenses for the year.

From 2018 to 2022, the MCLEO had a total of P50.033 million in cash collections at its disposal as part of the MCLE Fund, the COA noted.

The COA said a review of the MCLEO’s fund utilization from 2018 to 2022 showed that most of its expenses were for honoraria payments of the MCLE governing board members, content reviewers and critics for the MCLE online and on-demand script and video materials amounting to P6.84 million.

It also released P2.7 million in allowances of MCLE collecting officers, members of the MCLEO secretariat and technical team and the officer-in-charge of the MCLE governing board.

Another P2.237 million was spent on travel expenses and other allowances of MCLEO personnel who monitored MCLE activities while P2.876 million was spent for utilities, advertisements and common use supplies.

The COA said the SC agreed to “utilize the yearly collection of funds through projects geared towards the modernization of the MCLEO in accordance with its mandate.”