The Commission on Audit (COA) intensified its Integrity Management Program (IMP) beginning with a series of Integrity Pledge ceremonies throughout the country. The first batch of Central Office officials and personnel from the Executive Offices, the Administration, Planning, Finance and Management, Professional and Institutional Development, Special Services and the Systems and Technical Services Sectors took their Integrity Pledges before the Commission Proper on 12 February 2019 at the COA Cultural and Sports Complex.

The Integrity Pledge serves as a reminder to all COA officials and employees on how they are expected to conduct themselves as public servants and a way to enrich the commitment to serve with the highest degree of integrity.

“We have to continuously remind ourselves of the importance of integrity in the work that we do and in the way we live our lives,” said COA Chairperson Michael G. Aguinaldo.

“As public servants, we are held to a higher standard and we have to be able to show to our fellow citizens that we do not only work hard and try to do good in our work but also try to serve with integrity,” he added.

COA Commissioners Jose A. Fabia and Roland C. Pondoc reiterated the importance of instilling a culture of integrity throughout the Commission.

The Integrity Pledge, a brainchild of Commissioner Pondoc, is one of the activities of the IMP. The Commission created an Integrity Management Committee to ensure the effective implementation of all integrity management initiatives. The Committee facilitates integrity assessment defining and analyzing integrity issues and corruption vulnerabilities; development and implementation of the integrity management plan including formulating measures based on standards to address identified issues and adopting change management initiatives; and conduct of monitoring and evaluation.

COAns were encouraged to use #IMPro_Integrity_COA in their social media accounts.

Meanwhile, Central Office personnel, including the auditing units, under the National Government Sector will hold their Integrity Pledge ceremony on 15 February; the Corporate Government Sector on 19 February; and the Local Government, Government Accountancy, Commission Proper Adjudication and Secretariat Support Services, and the Legal Services Sectors will conduct theirs on 21 February.