TO back their claims that the release of calamity assistance two years ago was regular, the officer-in-charge (OIC) of the Cebu City Accounting Office testified that disbursement of the fund went through the process when he was presented as a witness during a hearing yesterday.
During the hearing at the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) 7, OIC City Accountant Mark Salomon explained before the hearing body the process of the release of the P20,000 calamity assistance.
Before it reached his office, Salomon said, administrative officers of each department prepared a certification of those employees under their office who were hired prior to the October 2013 earthquake that hit Cebu.
The certification was approved by each department head.
Under the conditions set under the ordinance that grants the release of calamity aid, each employee who was employed before the disaster would qualify for the aid.
Payroll
Salomon, who is also a lawyer, said the certifications were then forwarded to the Human Resource Department Office (HRDO) and each department prepared their payroll.
All payrolls were then submitted to the budget office for the obligation request and for the office to certify that there is a back-up appropriation for the calamity aid.
The obligation request, payrolls and certifications were then submitted to the accounting office for review.
After he reviewed all the documents, Salomon said they were all submitted to the City Treasurer’s Office to check if the payrolls were properly backed up with available cash before they reached the executive department for Mayor Michael Rama’s approval.
Salomon was the third witness presented by the counsel of the respondent on the administrative case filed by lawyer Reymelio Delute against Rama, Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella and 12 councilors over the release of the calamity assistance in 2013 in the wake of the 7.2 magnitude earthquake and typhoon Yolanda.
Support
The release was supported by two budget ordinances—City Ordinance (CO) 2379 and CO 2380, which covered the appropriation of P61 million sourced from the General Fund proper and the P26 million sourced from the General Fund-Special Accounts, respectively.
Today, respondents will present Councilors Gerardo Carillo, Nendell Hanz Abella and Dave Tumulak as their fourth set of witnesses.
Delute raised concern on the respondents’ plan to present 100 employees as witnesses, as it will delay the legal proceedings.
“We want to know on how will they present them with a few more days of the hearings because the DILG is time-bound, they need to finish the legal proceedings in the time set for them,” Delute said.
DILG has scheduled the last set of hearings in the first week of December.