Move for deeper probe on PTA fund scam gather support from parents
An overwhelming number of parents have affixed their signature in support to the manifesto being circulated by the new set of officers of the Parents Teachers Association (PTA) of Iloilo National High School (INHS) headed by Sta. Barbara Councilor Larry Deatras calling for investigation on what happened to the PTA funds under the previous administration.
Deatras said during the PTA general assembly last Friday that majority of the parents have signed the manifesto and that the new officers are grateful that the parents have supported their cause.
The new PTA officers called a general assembly last Friday to explain to the parents the circumstances leading to the discovery of the alleged "missing" PTA funds.
Past president Jose Roberto "Bert" Montilla and former treasurer Lazaro "Zar" Borongan, however, did not show up in the general assembly for unknown reasons.
Earlier, Deatras was surprised to discover that the remaining balance reflected in the PTA's two bank accounts is only more than P3,000 when, in fact, PTA records show that the previous administration collected close to half a million pesos during the opening of school year 2006-2007.
Deatras said they have discovered that there were a lot of undeposited collections by the previous administration.
He cited some P175,000 collections reflected in the records of the Accounting Division which did not appear in any of the two bank accounts.
Deatras also claimed that they have gathered documents showing that the previous PTA committed illegal disbursements.
Personnel from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Manila are now conducting their own investigation on the alleged anomaly.
Meanwhile, Ramy Galanto, owner of the Galanto Auditing Firm, which Borongan claimed to have audited their financial report presented during the August 26, 2006 general assembly, appeared last Friday to explain their side.
Galanto debunked Borongan and Montilla's claim that they have audited the previous PTA's financial report saying what they issued, through his staff Elena Medes, was merely a "qualified opinion in form of an audit report." He said it means they could not guarantee that the report is free of fraud.
Galanto said they never conducted an actual audit since Montilla and his group were not able to submit the necessary supporting documents to back their purported financial report.
"We explained to them (Montilla and his group) that it is still their responsibility to defend their financial report, not ours, since we never conducted an actual audit," Galanto said.
"I don't want that they hide behind our signatures, other parties can question their financial report and even conduct their own audit," he added.