COA bars release of solon's financial aid to foundation
Paraw Regatta
The Iloilo Paraw Regatta Foundation Inc. (IPRFI) has yet to receive the P250,000 financial assistance from Representative Raul Gonzalez Jr. for the 2008 Iloilo Paraw Regatta Festival after the Commission on Audit (COA) issued a memorandum circular restricting donations for foundations with government officials as members or incorporators.
IPRFI chair Manuel Villa Jr. said the City Accounting Office could not release the financial assistance to the foundation until they submit a sworn statement reflecting that none of the its members is the disbursing officer and is not affiliated until the fourth degree of consanguinity.
Villa said COA required the foundation to submit the sworn statement since it is one of the prerequisites in releasing the funds as contained in the memorandum circular. The financial assistance came from Gonzalez but it was channeled through the city government. The fund was sourced out from the solon's Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).
Villa and his group, however, failed to provide the members of the media a copy of the said memorandum circular during the press conference.
The foundation could not issue a sworn statement to the effect since Mayor Jerry Treñas, who is the disbursing officer and Vice Mayor Jed Mabilog are both incorporators of the foundation. Though, in IPRFI's Articles of Incorporation, Treñas joined the foundation as Atty. Jerry Treñas and not as Mayor Jerry Treñas.
Villa said the COA circular was issued in October 2007 and they received a copy of it on February 28, 2008, days after Paraw Regatta Festival. The pledges or commitment was made even before the foundation received a copy of such memorandum.
Only Gonzalez's pledge was not released from among the government officials who made their commitment to the IPRFI. The city government's cash assistance of P668,500, Iloilo provincial government's P250,000 and P10,000 from Guimaras provincial government were already released before a copy of the circular was received by the foundation.
Villa is appealing before COA to spare the foundation from such order as they are helping the government to promote its tourism industry.
The P250,000 could be a big help to the foundation for their unpaid bills incurred during the festival. If the government will continue to impose such restriction, none would want to help the government. The foundation's fund was "spent honestly" to promote tourism and preserve the Ilonggo culture, said Villa.