STATE auditors asked why Alegria town gave a farmers’ association a share of the fees collected for the canyoneering operation in Kanlaob River last year.
The Commission on Audit (COA) said that the Compostela Farmers’ Association (COMFA) received P294,241.23 from the municipal government, representing eight percent of the net proceeds from entrance and users’ fees.
“The municipality was not able to provide the basis for the imposition of fees to canyoneering tourists except the ordinance enacted by the Sangguniang Barangay of Compostela, Alegria,” the audit report said.
In 2017, Alegria town reported P13,255,235 in collections from tourists who joined the canyoneering tour package in Kanlaob River in Barangay Compostela.
There was no basis, no municipal ordinance, for giving COMFA a cut.
What state auditors found instead was Ordinance No. 3 of Barangay Compostela, of which Section 6 spells out how the net proceeds would be divided: 30 percent for the town’s Local Development Fund, 28 percent for the Municipal Government, 18 percent for the barangay, 16 percent for the landowners whose properties the activity used, and eight percent for a people’s organization.
Why not specific?
COMFA is the only people’s organization in Barangay Compostela, the COA report said, but it wasn’t named in the barangay’s ordinance.
Barangay Captain Joseph Redula explained that when the council took up the ordinance, they agreed not to specify COMFA as the recipient people’s organization, in case it stops being active.
“Lisod kon ang ordinance sa barangay butangan og name sa P.O. What if ma-dissolve na? Kon mawala na, ang ubang mo-exist unya nga P.O. dili na makadawat (What if that group gets dissolved? No other people’s organization would be able to receive a share),” Redula told SunStar Super Balita.
He said that COMFA has operated in the barangay for nearly 10 years.
Redula estimated that the canyoneering adventure in Kanlaob River earns an average of P40,000 a day for the town.
Alegria Mayor Verna Magallon said that work is underway on enabling the people’s organization to manage tourist destinations, as envisioned by the Provincial Government.
“Hopefully, in the coming months, the people’s organization would be the one to manage. That would be better,” added the mayor. SCG of Superbalita