Sunday, February 03, 2008 Flower fest body audit report still haunts Panagbenga By Riamliza Opiña
REPORTS of alleged misuse of public funds by Baguio City officials from the previous staging of the Panagbenga remains a lingering sore.
Following the publication of a news report which implicated several members of the local finance committee and former elected officials in alleged "questionable" disbursement of public funds to a private entity -- the Baguio Flower Festival Foundation Inc. (BFFFI), Councilor Fred Bagbagen asked that documents related to the audit report be furnished to City hall.
The City Council appropriated public funds during the Panagbenga 2003 and 2004 as financial assistance to the BFFFI, the organizer of the festival when the City Government took over the management from the John Hay-Poro Point Development Corporation (JPDC).
It was learned that members of the local finance committee (LFC) were the same ones who were named by Baguio Mayor Reinaldo Bautista Jr. to handle the accounting and disbursements of funds, Bagbagen said fiscal reforms have to be instituted for a more efficient management of funds under the supervision of the LFC.
But LFC head and budget officer Leticia Clemente said Bagbagen's request is premature.
She said the Commission on Audit (COA) has made an earlier declaration that unless they have concluded their inquiry, no documents could be released yet.
Clemente, together with City Treasurer Thelma Manaois and City Accountant Antonio Tabin, former mayor Bernardo Vergara and Baguio Representative Mauricio Domogan were ordered by the COA to submit their answers to their audit observation memorandum (AOM).
The group submitted their answers last month.
"There is an urgent need, in aid of legislation so that appropriate fiscal reforms may be adopted, for the guidance of public officers designated to manage the collection and disbursement of funds for the 2008 Panagbenga activity in the future," Bagbagen said in a proposal, seeking city offices be furnished copies of the AOM as well the answer of affected city executives.
The management of Panagbenga is managed anew by the private sector after the City Council passed a resolution, which brought back management to the BFFFI.
For the 2007 and 2008 edition of the Panagbenga, the Hotels and Restaurants Association of Baguio (HRAB) was appointed to manage the affair, which officially started Saturday and will end on March 2.
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