The government has enough information and communications technology (ICT) experts who can detect and prevent “high-tech” corruption in the government, Palace deputy spokesman Abigail Valte said on Tuesday.
“We will leave it up to Chairman Grace Pulido-Tan of the Commission on Audit (COA) to determine the expertise that their audit teams will require when it comes to auditing ICT-related government contracts,” Valte told a radio interview.
“Our ICT experts from the National Computer Center under the Department of Science and Technology are more than willing to assist and provide their expertise when requested,” she added.
The Manila Times reported on Tuesday that COA’s personnel lack the technical expertise to sniff out irregularities in national and local government contracts involving ICT projects.
Jade Deocampo Deinla, an IT expert and former consultant to the Commission on Elections, claimed that hundreds of billions of pesos spent on these projects went unaccounted for “because nobody understands it.”
Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara said that the government should hire competent technical people to oversee and audit the ICT projects. He added that officials can even hire hackers to do the job.
Deinla claimed that COA is not capable of conducting technical audit of ICT projects.
