Capitol to take off covers of notebooks

CEBU, Philippines - School supplies with the faces of provincial government officials will not go to waste, said Acting Governor Agnes Magpale.

Before the start of the school year on June, Magpale said that they will make sure the school supplies will be distributed so that it would not go to waste. But the school supplies, notebooks most especially which have the faces of Capitol officials, will be bared of its covers before it will be distributed. It would have to wait after the election on May 13, though, given campaign regulations of the Commission on Election (Comelec).

According to a report from the Commission on Audit, P19 million worth of school supplies have not been distributed yet. But the COA report had their attention particularly on the school kits that had names and images of elective officials of the Provincial Government.

This violated the memorandum circular of the Department of interior and Local Government that strictly prohibits the printing of names and images of government officials in properties and projects of the government.

In one of the notebooks printed, it showed the face of suspended governor Gwendolyn Garcia with school children in the front cover while the back cover showed all the rest of the provincial officials, including the late vice governor Greg Sanchez. Magpale, still a Provincial Board member in 2011, was also included.

The COA report stated, “the procurement was in violation of the DILG memorandum circular no 2010-101 dated September 23, 2010 and COA Circular no 2012-003, hence there is a probability that the school items cannot be distributed at all causing pecuniary loss to the government.”

Magpale said that they did not know that their faces were printed in the notebooks since it did not go through them.

She has not seen the notebooks yet, said Magpale, but she said she was told the images were too big to cover with a provincial seal, which she suggested so they can distribute the school supplies.

It was recommended that they will have to take off the covers instead, said Magpale.

This was also mentioned in the COA report, stating that unless the names and images printed on the kits are removed, it cannot be distributed. It stated though that “the removal of whatever signages would already mean loss on the part of the Provincial Government because it is presumed that printing had been included in the costing by the supplier of the items procured.”

COA recommended that the provincial government find a way to make “best use” of the items as well as submit justification for the purchase of the items.

Magpale said she will call for a meeting to discuss the matter further.

The COA report added that officials responsible for the purchase of the kits should be made liable “up to the amount of damage that the Provincial Government will sustain if the items could not be distributed because of the violations.”

Provincial General Services Office Eva Encabo said that they will have to make an inventory on the matter. But Encabo said that upon Magpale’s earlier instructions to make an inventory in all offices and warehouses of the province, they were aware that there were still a number of stocks that were unattended in some warehouses but they did not have any knowledge that distribution for the items were long overdue since there was no proper turn-over in the first place.

Earlier, PGSO inventory reports showed that a number of perishable goods like noodles were nearing its expiration date and should already be given out.

The COA report showed that auditing was made on the disbursement vouchers for the procurement of school bags, kits, class records and lesson plans for distribution. It stated that out of 866,410 items procured, some remained undistributed and still in the bodega of the procurement process.

According to COA, this is “defeating the purpose of helping the end-users in their education needs for school year 2012-2013.”

According to the report, notebooks, pens, bags, class record for teachers, books and lesson plans were bought in February 2012 while some were still in 2011. Distribution was to be made in June, last year. — (FREEMAN)