COA snubs PB anew

CEBU, Philippines - The Commission on Audit has refused to extend assistance to the Cebu Provincial Government in determining which of the several claims of the contractors and creditors of the previous administration are legitimate financial obligations and should be paid.

For the second time, COA officials did not honor the invitation of the Provincial Board to shed light on the legitimacy of the claims and to give guidance on how to settle the obligations.

Provincial Auditor Eva Cabrera explained that they could not render an opinion since it will tantamount to pre-audit which is no longer permitted under the COA Circular No. 2011-002 dated July 22, 2011.

"Pre-audit activities are the responsibility of the agencies concerned as part of their accounting and fiscal control processes," said Cabrera in her letter addressed to Provincial Secretary Anecita Pasaylo dated January 30, 2014.

Cabrera said that fiscal responsibility rests with the management as clearly provided for in Section 2 of P.D. 1445 otherwise known as the Government Auditing Code of the Philippines.

It states that the primary responsibility for faithful adherence to this policy rests with the chief executive of the government agency concerned.

"The role of the auditor is to see to it that this fiscal responsibility vested in management has been faithfully adhered to. Hence, the audit teams conduct review of transactions on a post-audit basis or after the transaction is paid and recorded in the book of accounts," Cabrera added.

During its regular session yesterday, the PB members agreed to invite again COA officials in an executive session.

The PB members want the COA to explain why it said the past actions of the previous administration have no authority from the Board and yet these were not disallowed.

The PB committee on budget and appropriations chaired by Board Member Grecilda Sanchez has been reviewing the payables of the province amounting to over P600 million.

Out of this, P250 million worth of projects are already completed and payments are now "due and demandable", according to the Provincial Accounting Office.

In order to pay the obligations, the contracts entered into by former governor, now third district Rep. Gwendolyn Garcia, have to be ratified.

The provincial government owes P607 million to 31 contractors of various projects left by Garcia when she was suspended last December 2012 until her term ended in June 2013.

Some contractors have been asking for payments of their projects but Governor Hilario Davide III is determined not to pay them. —/FPL (FREEMAN)