Sunday, August 19, 2007 ‘Pork’ for payables used for medicine instead, says COA
THE Commission on Audit (COA) told Bogo City officials not to use its share of the Priority Development Assistance Funds (PDAF) for purposes other than those stated.
Government auditors found that at least P3.99 million intended for payables was used to buy medicine instead.
The auditors also learned that the purchase violated the Government Procurement Act, since no approved budget was specified in the advertisement for the bidding.
Despite the bidding, the auditors also learned that the medicines were purchased through shopping.
In COA’s 2006 audit report for Bogo, it commented that the officials violated Section 305 of the Local Government Code, which states that trust funds in the local treasury shall not be paid out except for the purpose “for which the trust was created or the funds received.”
The treasurer has requested for the realignment of the amount, but there was no approval yet before the medicines were bought.
COA told Bogo officials to see to it that in future transactions, trust funds shall be strictly used. All realignments must be approved before the funds are disbursed.
The auditors also found an inconsistency in the procurement of the medicines. The certificate of award to Le Jumont Pharmaceuticals Inc. states that the firm was “the winning bidder through shopping of the supply of medicine.”
COA has also ordered the treasurer of Bogo to intensify collection of loans granted to small and medium enterprises, as well as people’s organizations, using some P1 million from the Office of the President.
Bogo had lent the money to 21 beneficiaries in May to September 2003, July 2004 and March 2006, but when checked late last year, the auditors found that it had only collected P15,500.
“The municipality had been delinquent in its loan amortization to the President’s Social Fund of the Office of the President,” the audit report stated. (MBG)
