Friday, July 04, 2008 City helps brys. comply with COA requirements
THE Cebu City Government is finding ways to help 26 mountain barangays comply with Commission on Audit (COA) requirements, after the agency said P2.6 million in aid for the Asean summit in January last year remains unliquidated.
The amount represents the P100,000 given to each of 26 barangays, which were supposed to hold nightly activities during the summit to keep constituents from going downtown.
Yesterday, City Administrator Francisco Fernandez said the barangays actually liquidated the amount.
But he said, it was through a barangay liquidation process and not through the one observed by the City Government because they thought it was an “aid to the barangay.”
“The bids and awards for example, barangay bids and awards, dili sa (not of the) City. (The barangays did it that way) because the mayor disbursed it (amount) through (them) and not directly as City expenses,” he said.
“The problem is more of a technical matter, not substantial non-compliance, because all the activities (the amount was spent for) were there. The barangays…did liquidate the amount, but in their own way of liquidating it,” he said.
Proofs
Fernandez said the problem is how to document the activities, since the COA wants to see the documents as proof that the activities indeed took place.
In a separate interview, City Protocol Officer and then City Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) task force head Nagiel Bañacia said the mountain barangays
held activities and spent the money using the services of non-professional providers.
For example, he said, sound systems used were not rented after contracts of service were entered into, as they were mostly “inato” or casual transactions, like asking a neighbor to provide the viands in a gathering, and another for the rice, instead of a professional caterer.
Official receipts
The problem was that the activities were held in the mountains so there were no official receipts, he said.
“One way or another, the barangays have liquidated the amount. Ang problema lang kulang ang (The only problem is the lack of) documentary proof asked for by (state)
auditors,” he added.
Sun.Star Cebu tried talking to Acting City Accountant Marietta Gumia about the matter, but was told she was not feeling well and indisposed to grant an interview.
The COA said failure of the barangays to submit the required documents prevented it from “ascertaining the actual expenses incurred to the above guidelines on the use
of Pagcor (Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.) funds.” (RHM)
