Friday, October 10, 2008 Mandaue treasurer withholds salary of execs who failed to settle accounts
THE City Treasurer’s Office has withheld salaries of some Mandaue City officials who failed to settle their cash advances last year.
City Treasurer Lorna Atega said she already received notices from the city accountant to withhold salaries of the officials.
Notices sent by the city accountant to the concerned officials remained unheeded, so their salaries were withheld.
But officials who only incurred cash advances this year have until the end of the year, or before the closing of the book of accounts, to submit their liquidation reports.
Liquidation
The City Council passed a resolution, authored by Councilor Emiliano Rosal, asking Mayor Jonas Cortes to require all officials and employees with long-overdue unliquidated cash advances to submit their liquidation reports as soon as possible.
Attached to the measure is a list of accumulated cash advances, which totaled P5.16 million.
This was broken down to P1.83 million for 2007, P1.888 million for 2008 and P1.45 million incurred in prior years.
But Rosal said that the unliquidated cash advances already reached P6.5 million.
The accountable officials who failed to settle their cash advances last year were Louella Cabañero, the mayor’s chief of staff, at P550,000, which was reportedly spent for program and year-end evaluation conferences; Djalma Regudo of the City Treasurer’s Office at P410,890 for relief operations, financial assistance and Oplan Kalag-Kalag; and former city schools superintendent Serena Uy at P785,230.
Uy is now assistant Department of Education 7 director.
Cortes’ secretary Ernie Manatad still has to settle P80,000 in cash advances last year.
Except for Manatad, accountable officials already failed to receive their salaries.
Manatad said he is still liquidating the rest of the mayor’s intelligence fund expenses for 2007.
Since the intelligence fund is confidential in nature, Manatad said they are consulting other local government units on how they liquidate the fund.
Accountability
He said that the City has nothing to do with this particular cash advance, as he will submit a liquidation report only to the Commission on Audit (COA) in Manila.
Manatad also welcomed the city council’s move as this will encourage officials to update their liquidation requirements.
For 2008, City Administrator Briccio Boholst still has to account for P450,000; Cabañero advanced P778,930 for sports activities; Loisella Lucino has P374,430 for Lakbay-Aral; Dolores Santos has P100,000 from the intelligence fund; Department of General Services Chief Antonio Tomongha for the nutrition action team with Bernardita Tariman and Dr. Rosemarie Tirado of the City Health Office have P55,000.
Boholst said he already submitted a liquidation report to the City Accounting Office. He said the amount was used during the Pasigarbo sa Sugbu.
Irregularity
“(There’s) Nothing irregular about it as we must be responsive to the immediate needs of the situation in order for the activity to go on,” said Boholst.
The council of elders has questioned the P19.5 unliquidated cash advances from 1997 to March 2007 incurred by then mayor Thadeo Ouano’s family, as reflected in previous COA reports.
The council members asked why repeated advances were allowed without the liquidation of previous advances and why clearances were given to those who retired without settling their accounts. (OCP)
