BACOLOD City Mayor Evelio Leonardia said yesterday the Kasadya Bacolod Development Foundation Inc. (KBDFI) has an obligation to submit its audited financial statements in relation to the MassKara Festival celebrations from 2013 to 2015.
This, after Rhoderick Samonte, president of KBDFI, issued a statement that they have no responsibility to submit audited financial statements to the City Government.
“It is not his obligation to the City Government, but it is his obligation to the public,” Leonardia said.
“The obligation on the public funds is the same. It does not matter who is the mayor. Accounting is accounting as part of the transparency and accountability,” he added.
In November, the City Council approved a resolution requesting the Silver MassKara Festival Organization Inc. (SMFOI) and the KBDFI to submit audited financial statements in relation to the festival celebrations.
The resolution was originally proposed by Councilor Claudio Jesus Puentevella requesting only SMFOI festival director Eli Francis Tajanlangit to furnish the City Council a copy of an audited financial statement in relation to the 2016 MassKara Festival celebration.
However, Councilors Em Ang and Caesar Distrito moved a subsidiary motion to include the KBDFI in the submission of financial reports.
Samonte said he has not received a copy of the resolution, or any communication for that matter.
“There is nothing I should do because I have not received anything official,” he said.
He added that they have submitted all their reports to former mayor Monico Puentevella from 2013 to 2015, and “everything is very cleared.”
If there are parties who would like to get a copy of their financial report, Samonte said it is available at the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Bureau of Internal Revenue because they have complied with the reports.
He said he does not see any reason why they have to liquidate because they have not received money from the City Government.
Leonardia said that since 2004, the SMFOI has an accounting of funds.
“Whether an accounting is a legal obligation or not, at the very least the organizer has a moral obligation to submit an accounting. It is already long overdue,” he said.
Moreover, City Legal Officer Joselito Bayatan said that if Samonte fails to submit an audited financial statement, he may face malversation of public funds charges.
“It involves public funds, so he must comply with the accounting. The city is only interested in how the funds were expended,” he added.
