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Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Tabuelan contradicts COA on P731T ‘loss’
By Minerva B. Gerodias
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
Officers of Tabuelan find it unfair for the Commission on Audit (COA) to publish a report that they are among the towns that incurred net losses last year.
Budget officer Carmen Ruelan explained that COA did not include their savings of more than P3 million in 2003, which was available for appropriation.
Without these savings, it would seem the town spent more than their income last year.
Tabuelan collected over P26.79 million last year, Ruelan said.
Total expenses, including aid for the barangays and allocations for the Tuburan-Tabuelan District Hospital, amounted to P27.52 million.
Since their savings of P3.37 million in 2003 were not included in COA’s computation, it would seem they incurred losses of P731,142.
COA published their report on the financial performance of local governments in the national dailies last Saturday.
Yet even their regional office’s report did not show any losses on Tabuelan’s part in 2004.
It did, however, note these violations in its report for Tabuelan town: understatement of property, plant and equipment; cash advances for casuals based on estimates; and delays in remittances of collections by field collectors.
Still, the regional COA office reported the town’s operations and cash flow were “in conformity with applicable and generally accepted accounting principles.”
COA’s Helen Hilayo said she has yet to compare the figures that they have and the figures their Manila office published, to determine how the head office came up with the figures.
She explained that sometimes, the financial statements that their auditor gets bear different figures from those on statements sent to Manila.
“It’s possible that the statements sent to Manila were previously adjusted. That’s why I still have to seek clarification (from Manila and from the town),” Hilayo said.
The local COA’s report for Tabuelan noted:
* an understatement of property, plant and equipment amounting to P357,070, because of the failure to record properties owned by the municipality;
* the failure to include P175,130 in tax declarations the municipality owns, in the books of accounts; and
* the failure to record tax declarations of buildings owned by the municipality, worth P181,940.
Tabulen also violated the New Government Accounting System Manual because its field collectors, including barangay treasurers deputized by the municipal treasurer to collect taxes, were delayed in remitting their collections to the municipal treasurer.
Collectors stationed in the municipal treasurer’s office were also delayed by three to 10 days in remitting collections.
COA pointed out that delayed remittances of collections could cause possible misuse of government funds.
(August 24, 2005 issue)
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