Negros Occidental already settled the P132M fund questioned by COA

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines – The provincial government of Negros Occidental had settled the P132.58 million lump sum appropriations that were questioned by the Commission on Audit (COA) recently.

Provincial Budget Officer Jose Percival Salado Jr said that budget allocations through lump sum appropriations were practiced since the time of late Governor Joseph Marañon until 2015.

The provincial board gave the former governor blanket authority to choose beneficiaries of certain grants and donations even before the annual budget was approved. It was stopped after COA’s recommendation in 2015, Salado said.

In an audit report on the province released on January 11, state auditors said the provincial government charged expenses from lump sum appropriations without prior authority from the Sangguniang Panlalawigan.

The auditors based their findings on a 2008 Supreme Court decision on a case filed by the Cebu provincial board of against former Cebu governor Gwendolyn Garcia. It has since been required prior authorization from the provincial board before the governor could appropriate lump sums.

He explained that the provincial government had already answered the issue during its exit conference with COA last year. “Everything that the COA recommended in its audit report was adopted,” he said.

Now, Salado said, recipients and purpose of proposed projects were identified and determined first before these were endorsed to the provincial board for approval.

According to the COA report, only P833,230.90 were disbursed with approval from the provincial board out of the P133,336,500 lump sum appropriations in the 2014 annual budget and Supplemental Budget Number 1.

The state auditors also questioned the provincial government’s purchase of food supplies and equipment amounting to P32.78 million in 2014.

The properties and equipment were “mostly non-functional,” Salado said.

He explained that the audit report that the capitol had submitted to COA in the previous year included old items, which could be traced back to after World War II.

It is not easy for the provincial government to remove a certain item from the auditing book without requesting the commission to delete it, he pointed out.

COA is expected to call for an exit conference for 2015 within the first quarter of the year, he said. – Rappler.com