COA unearths over P3.5M illegal cash gift, over P1M irregular gasoline expenses
Illegal extra cash gifts and millions in irregular gasoline expenses now appear as the common denominator of the Province of Iloilo and several Iloilo towns. This, following the yearly State Audit made by government auditors from the Commission On Audit (COA).
In Tigbauan, Iloilo, over P3.5 million in said “extra cash gifts” to its town officials and employees were disbursed despite clear violations of the law.
Similar to the contention of the province for Capitol officials and employees, Tigbauan for its part went ahead with the expenditure in excess of its Personal Services (PS) limitation.
“In the computation of PS limitation as against PS cost, the Municipality incurred an excess in PS limitation of P10,191,939.43….,” excerpts of the COA 2009 report as obtained by The News Today (TNT) went.
And like the Municipality of Pavia too, Tigbauan’s gasoline, oil and lubricants paid for by taxpayers’ money in 2008 was in the million-benchmark. Further still, the claim – P1,072,776.59 to be exact – were without supporting documentation.
Yet making history this year were claims for gasoline supposedly used by the town’s garbage truck. Problem was, government auditors discovered that the subject garbage truck was officially unserviceable – under repair at the time of the purported gasoline claims.
The COA team knew of this glaring irregularity after yet another claim for labor payroll sought for the garbage truck’s repair.
The COA was direct with its findings stating “claims for gasoline were not justifiable during the period when the vehicle was not in running condition… We recommend that the claims for gasoline should be refunded as they are considered unnecessary expenses. All those who participated in the transaction shall be liable thereof...”
Meantime, the biggest question raised by government auditors on a special audit made regarding the P20 million loan for the construction of the public market perimeter stalls.
Tigbauan through Mayor James Excelsior Torres negotiated and secured the loan from the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP). Problem was, as the COA discovered, of the nine parcels of land for the public market project, seven are privately-owned and lack evidence such as the most basic in land title under the town’s name.
“Non-titling of parcels of land will result to possible lawsuit as the ownership thereto can be contested and will entail expense to the local government unit. Moreover, the asset cannot be booked up until the title to it is vested in the name of the Municipality,” the COA wrote.