Former Commission on Audit (COA) Chairman Celso Domingo Gangan passed away last 24 December 2022. He was 88 years old.

A native of Ilagan, Isabela, Chairman Gangan served as Chairman of the COA from 25 March 1994 to 1 February 2001. Chairman Gangan commissioned an organizational study to enhance the public accountability of COA with funding assistance from the United Nations Development Fund (UNDP). The UNDP Study was the first comprehensive study undertaken on COA, which paved the way for the creation of the Change Management Team and Change Management Support Unit to spearhead the implementation of identified and on-going reforms, and the adoption of other reform initiatives as COA’s response to the challenges of good governance in the public sector. 

One of the hallmarks of Chairman Gangan’s administration is his generosity in providing for the needs of the COA family. Physical facilities and equipment were amply provided to the central and regional offices. Promotions and local and foreign staff training programs were pursued. He founded the COA Operation Lingap intended to help the lahar victims of Region III. In 1998, COA regained its seat in the United Nations Board of Auditors which it held for three years. It was during the term of Chairman Gangan that the COA celebrated its Centenary.

Born on 28 July 1934, Chairman Gangan was a CPA-Lawyer and a young delegate to the Constitutional Convention, representing the lone district of Isabela. He presided as Chair of the Committee on Government Audit. He recommended the creation of the Commission on Audit as a collegial body to replace the then existing General Auditing Office. Former President Corazon C. Aquino appointed him Officer-in-Charge (OIC) Vice Governor of Isabela in 1986. He was subsequently named Assistant Commissioner of the COA in August 1988 and shortly was designated Resident Ombudsman of the Central Office. He also held the position of OIC of the newly created Corporate Audit Office.

As COA Chairman, employees who served under his term remember him as a humble and approachable man who greeted them always with a smile.

Commission on Audit (COA) officials led by Commissioner Roland Café Pondoc, attended the 62^nd Regular Session of the United Nations (UN) Panel of External Auditors held from 28-29 November 2022 at the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), in Santiago, Chile. The meeting was hosted by Auditor-General Jorge Bermudez of Chile.

The Panel’s Technical Group also held its 38^th meeting from 23 to 25 November 2022 to discuss technical matters and prepare for the ensuing discussions by their principals which was headed by Director Lito Q. Martin with Auditor Hershey P. Visaya from the International Audit and Relations Office (IARO) to represent SAI Philippines.

New Commission on Audit (COA) Chairperson Gamaliel A. Cordoba and Commissioners Roland C. Pondoc and Mario G. Lipana lead the 2022 COA Christmas celebration with the theme “Pag-asa, Pagkakaisa, Pagmamahalan at Pasasalamat.”

COA celebrated Christmas 2022 with simple but meaningful activities. The celebration formally began with the lighting of the Christmas Tree and Nativity on 1 December 2022. COA also held a lunch and gift giving to low salaried employees, the traditional greetings to the Commission Proper, activities and performances by sectors and a newspaper lantern making contest.

Chairperson Gamaliel A. Cordoba with Commissioners Roland C. Pondoc and Mario G. Lipana join the organizers and hosts of the greetings to the Commission Proper which was held face-to-face for the first time since the pandemic.

Chairperson Cordoba expressed his appreciation for the COA family’s warmth and support which he felt in his first Christmas with COA. “Tunay nga na ang turingan natin ay tulad ng isang pamilya: nagkakaisa at may malasakit sa bawat isa. Nais ko na mapanatili ang pagkakasundo at magkarron ng mas matibay na samahan habang ginagampanan natin ang ating mga tungkulin ng tapat at mahusay,” Chairperson Cordoba said.