TACLOBAN CITY – The National Maritime Polytechnic (NMP) acknowledges the crucial role of auditing in ensuring an effective public sector governance. We are thankful and we always welcome the observations of the Commission of Audit (COA) as they allowed us to reassess our processes and at the same time help us implement immediate corrective actions.
Let it be noted that the COA Annual Audit Report (AAR) for FY 2020 was only received by NMP on 30 July 2021 and citing among others the amount of P15M as payment of honoraria for the period of CY -2018-2020 to twenty-three (23) Guest Lecturers (GLs) for our Professional Development Courses (PDC), namely: IMO Model Course 6.09 (Training Course for Instructors); IMO Model Course 3.12 (Assessment, Examination and Certification of Seafarers); and IMO Model Course 6.10 (Training Course for Simulator Instructors and Assessors).
Contributing significantly to the said amount was the payment of honoraria for the conduct of special batches for the past three (3) years due to the demands of our clients, i.e various maritime higher education institutions (MHEIs), maritime training institutions (MTIs), and other maritime organizations as these courses were made mandatory requirements by the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) for instructors and assessors of maritime programs.
As of 30 December 2020, there are a total of ninety (90) MHEIs and ninety-five (95) MTIs with only three (3) MARINA-recognized training providers of PDC: NMP; Philippine Merchant Marine Academy (PMMA); and Philippine Association of Maritime Training Center, Inc. (PAMTCI).
Addressing the need of lack of organic personnel to handle our PDC, NMP maintains a pool of GLs where it can tap their services if needed. These GLs are invited based on their field of expertise and their availability as they also have other commitments in the company they are connected with.
NMP is in close coordination with our COA resident auditors who, even prior to the issuance of the AAR for FY 2020 already informed us of the said preliminary findings and provided us sound advice which enabled us to act promptly.
Based on COA’s findings and recommendations, the NMP strengthened its internal system with the issuance of various policies and NMP Special Orders, to wit:
- Designation of an organic personnel at NMP Manila Office as a training coordinator whose functions include among others ensuring an equitable load distribution among GLs assigned thereto;
- Preparation of a Workload Distribution Scheme for FY 2021 which will be religiously followed until December 2021;
- Designation of an organic training staff at NMP Tacloban as an Assistant Head, PDC to primarily assist in the planning, supervision and implementation of the programs under PDC, both in-house and offsite;
- Defining the duties and responsibilities in the conduct of PDCs in order to effect the smooth implementation of PDCs whether in NMP Tacloban, Manila or offsite; and
- Requiring GLs to submit a Daily Time Record (DTR) showing the actual hours rendered and attachment of the actual program and schedule of the conduct of trainings to the payment of the honorarium.
Moreover, it is also worth mentioning that for CY 2018-2020, NMP was able to generate an income of P 35,472,575.00 from the conduct of PDCs, of which 42.45% or P 15,056,400.00 was paid to GLs.
Rest assured that NMP will implement what had been recommended by COA and will tighten up measures based on the said findings.