Friday, August 18, 2006
Audit agency tells towns--refund, settle
By Jeanette P. Malinao
CEBU CITY -- Previous warnings from the Commission on Audit (COA) did not prevent 14 Cebu towns from giving allowances to members of their bids and awards committee (BAC) from unauthorized funding sources, prompting COA to demand immediate refunds.
Also, the perennial problem on the officials' failure to liquidate cash advances, and their treasurers' practice of granting them more, still hounded 21 towns in Cebu.
Officials of the 21 towns have yet to clear a total of P23.5 million in government money released to them, while the 14 municipalities' unauthorized BAC allowances amounted to P2.43 million.
COA Circular 97-002 provides that cash advances must be liquidated at the end of the year. The same circular also provides remedial measures to ensure full liquidation, including withholding the salaries of officials concerned.
The guidelines also state that officials or employees who have outstanding unliquidated cash advances should not be given additional cash advances.
Old cash
But the guidelines, which COA repeatedly pointed out in annual reports, were apparently taken for granted by many local government units.
The annual audit reports for 2005 operations showed that the same problem turned up in Argao, with P1.1 million in unliquidated cash advances.
Others in the list with unliquidated advances are Boljoon (P189,247), Carcar (P639,193), Alcoy (P553,544), San Fernando (P566,639), Borbon (P1,327,683), Sibonga (P563,486) and Daanbantayan (P849,366).
Also mentioned were Sogod (P776,847), Aloguinsan (P1,235,391),San Remigio (P1,212,371), Medellin (P2,839,223), Ronda (P738,050), Compostela (P1,139,366), Tuburan (P1,125470) and Sta. Fe (P237,024).
The list also included Catmon (P197,152), Tabogon (P250,874), Bantayan (P467,182) and Samboan (P155,774).
The island municipality of Madridejos was cited for a huge amount of cash advances by the mayor, at P7.4 million.
But unlike the rest of the towns, which used cash advances for travels, that of Madridejos was for projects, such as the improvement of the Kota Park, a historical and tourism site.
Still wrong
Also charged to cash advances were the improvement of the municipal park, the renovation of the municipal hall and the mayor's office, the repair of a patrol boat, maintenance of roads and purchase of office furniture, among others.
Although these are projects that benefit the constituents, COA pointed out that the advances for projects were released to the mayor "even if she is not a duly designated disbursing officer nor a permanently appointed official."
Elected officials are granted cash advances only for official travels.
The cash advances for Madridejos were also not proper because these were used to pay for expenses that should have been paid using checks.
As for the allowances for BAC members of the towns, Budget Circular 2004-5 or the guidelines for their release enumerate authorized sources for such honoraria.
It says that allowances for BAC or technical working groups must only be taken from proceeds from the sale of bidding documents; fees from contractors/supplier registry; fees charged for copies of the minutes of bid openings, BAC resolutions and other BAC documents; protest fees; liquidated damages; and proceeds from bid/performance security forfeiture.
Wrong source
But 14 municipalities still charged BAC allowance against maintenance and operating expenses, or specified an item for this in their annual budgets.
The towns that COA said must immediately refund BAC allowances include: Alcoy (P68,000), San Fernando (P341,647), Madridejos (P156,000), Minglanilla (P271,878), Pinamungajan (P328,894), Aloguinsan (P170,000), and San Francisco (P60,044).
Also named were Barili (P92,407), Badian (P216,000), Sta. Fe (P139,760), Tabogon (P66,754), Bantayan (P101,996), Moalboal (P238,368) and Naga (P180,400). (Sun.Star Cebu)
(August 18, 2006 issue)
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