COA questions P302-M Capitol funds
By Doris C. Bongcac
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 10:49:00 08/22/2008
AT LEAST P302 million worth of Capitol funds disbursed in 2007 either lacked proper monitoring, legal basis or supporting documents.
The Commission on Audit in Central Visayas (COA 7) said proper audit procedures should be complied with to ensure the maximum utilization of these allocations.
Rory Jon Sepulveda, provincial consultant for information, said the Capitol has already adopted corrective measures in response to the audit findings.
Auditors said the implementation of P265 million worth of infrastructure projects that were funded from financial assistance to municipalities and barangays was not properly monitored by the Provincial Planning and Development Office (PPDO).
Auditors also warned Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia against the release of additional cash incentives to jail inmates to avoid payment of refund using her own money.
They were referring to the release of P3.1 million anniversary and Christmas bonus to the inmates in 2007, which the auditors said was without legal basis since the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) inmates are non-Capitol employees.
But Sepulveda said only the court could prohibit the provincial government from extending cash incentives to CPDRC inmates.
COA also said P1.8 million was spent for the lease of jail vehicles despite the lack of supporting documents.
Other audit observations include:
• The non-liquidation of P16 million in cash advances by year-end;
• Failure to distribute multicabs worth P9.2 million and fire trucks worth P2.5 million to its intended beneficiaries;
• Lack of guidelines in regulating use of land line which resulted to payment of P4.7 million in telephone bills, of which P1 million were charged to long distance calls.
In response to the audit observations, Byron Garcia, the provincial consultant on security, said that he required drivers of leased prison vehicles to always secure a certificate of appearance, which they could use to document the use of their vehicles.
Byron said that the provincial government leases three to four prison vehicles from PJT Transport as part of the province's outsourcing program.
City Treasurer Roy Salubre said additional cash advances for travels are no longer released unless the requesting party is able to liquidate previous advances.
In some instances unliquidated advances are also deducted from the salary of employees or officials who have failed to settle previous cash advances.
Provincial legal officer Marino Martinquilla said that demand letters were already sent to those with unliquidated cash advances and have already retired from government service.
Charges have also been filed by COA against three former employees who already left Capitol and still have unliquidated cash advances.
Bernard Calderon, head of the provincial general services office, said the distribution of 102 units of multicabs worth P9.2 million was temporarily deferred because of the ban imposed during the May 2007 elections and the November 2007 barangay and SK elections.
But they were already preparing to distribute these to the barangays while the three fire trucks that have remained undistributed of Dec. 31, 2007 were already given to the municipalities of Tuburan, Sta. Fe and Tabogon.
Provincial accountant Marieto Ypil said they have also made it a policy to make the caller pay for personal calls to reduce Capitol's phone bills.
The Capitol distributed copies of their 2007 audit report to the media yesterday to prove “transparency” in their dealings.
Sepulveda and the different department heads led by Provincial Administrator Eduardo Habin also appeared in a press conference held at the old Capitol session hall to address media queries.
“This is in line with our good governance policy. We are giving out copies of the audit report and the department heads are here to address your concerns instead of the usual cat and mouse policy,” said Sepulveda.
He, however, said, that the audit result was somehow disappointing because it did not mention of any irregularities in the construction of the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC).
Helen Hilayo, State Auditor V, said that audit of the province's financial statement and property inventory was conducted “to ascertain the propriety of financial transactions and compliance of the agency to prescribed (auditing) rules and regulations”.
“In our opinion, except for the effects of the accounting treatment of the matters discussed in the preceding paragraphs and the adjustments,..... the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of Cebu Province as of December 31, 2007, and the result of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles.”
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