RECORDED MESSAGE
Internal Auditing Week in the Housing Sector
October 16, 2023
A pleasant day to the officials and employees of the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) and its key shelter agencies, namely:
- The Human Settlements Adjudication Commission (HSAC);
- National Housing Authority (NHA);
- Social Housing Finance Corporation (SHFC);
- National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation (NHMFC); and
- Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF).
I am honored to deliver this message, albeit virtually, for the kick-off event of the DHSUD Internal Auditing Week. Before I proceed, I would like to offer my most heartfelt congratulations to you on the success of your recently concluded Philippine Urban Forum.
The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) is one with your esteemed agencies in recognizing the pivotal role of internal audit in the housing sector. We strongly believe that internal control, including internal audit, provides the foundation for stronger accountability and good governance in public service. This is also in line with our mandate to promote the sound, efficient, and effective management and utilization of government resources. And, we are delighted to know that DHSUD joins us in this undertaking, as evidenced by this event.
As you know, by definition, internal control is extremely important in safeguarding our assets, checking the accuracy and reliability of our accounting data, and encouraging adherence to prescribed managerial policies. As a tool for management control, it ensures that the agency's mandate and sectoral goals are achieved efficiently, effectively, economically, and ethically, or what we call the 4Es of government operations.
And, we operationalize internal audit to ensure that we achieve our organizational objectives in a “4Es” manner.
On our end, at the DBM, we remain committed to promoting accountability, prudence in finances, quality service, and the 4Es of government operations across the bureaucracy. Hence, we have promulgated internal control and internal audit-related issuances such as the National Guidelines on Internal Control Systems or NGICS and the Revised Philippine Government Internal Audit Manual or RPGIAM.
The NGICS was released in 2008 while the RPGIAM was published in 2020 to serve as guides for the heads of departments and agencies for internal control systems and internal audit processes, respectively.
We recognize that these issuances should be coupled with capacity-building interventions to ensure their full adoption as agencies operationalize their internal control functions. And I am proud to share that since 2021, we have engaged more than 300 internal auditors from various departments, agencies, SUCs, and GOCCs by conducting six (6) batches of RPGIAM training.
In fact, the DHSUD-Internal Audit Service, HDMF-Internal Services Group, and the NHA-Internal Audit Department were part of the previous batches of our capacity-building activities. As such, we hope that the other key shelter agencies will also be able to join us in our training sessions.
We have likewise engaged around 660 government officials from approximately 140 different agencies during our executive briefings on the NGICS and RPGIAM conducted last July.
At masaya po ako na sa pamamagitan ng programang ito, kasama na po ang mga kawani at opisyales ng DHSUD sa nabigyan natin ng capacity-building training.
Finally, to institutionalize the development of our capacity-building and training efforts, we have a Recognition Program, which aims to gather a pool of resource persons who can share their firsthand experience and expand our knowledge in this field. By having trained, equipped, and competent subject matter experts, we can ensure effective knowledge-sharing and better learning for all. And of course, we very much look forward to having a DHSUD representative on board!
In line with this, I would like to commend everyone here today for your enthusiastic participation and commitment to forwarding an excellent internal audit and internal control culture in the country. We all know your significant role in instilling internal control consciousness within our respective agencies toward the 4Es, and ultimately enhancing bureaucratic efficiency and public service delivery.
We hope that your learnings during the Internal Auditing Week will assist and further capacitate you and, most importantly, inspire you to do all that you can to improve public service.
Rest assured that we will continue to provide training and assistance, especially as we update our policies and guidelines on internal audit and control to keep up with the evolving needs of our government and our people.
Tandaan lamang po ninyo na kasama ng DHSUD ang DBM sa patuloy na pagsulong ng maayos, mabilis, at epektibong serbisyo para sa mga Pilipino…tungo sa Bagong Pilipinas.
Maraming salamat po.
Wabillahi Tawfiq Wal Hidaya, Wasalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu.
