Anarchy in government - II

The local government units (LGU) consisting of the provinces, cities, municipalities or towns, and the barangays, just like the national government, are likewise in the worsening grips of anarchy as some karma or jinx.

The LGU bureaucrats proved fast learners and apt pupils with regard to financial anarchy in terms of violation of laws, accounting and auditing regulations, and doubly violative of austerity. Vastly amazing is that even barangay officials, theoretically naïve as yet in governance and groping for “wais” public service, are the fastest learners in “petty” abuses or excesses.

And the most amazing, as borne out by Commission on Audit (COA) post-audit examinations of barrio transactions, is their defiance of the laws and COA issuances or memo orders with such impunity, sans anticipatory fear of penal and administrative sanctions.

Anarchy among LGUs seems the “be all and “in” all. This is an intended variance of the idiom “be all and end all”, particularly the runaway obsession, excessive greed, the personal whim for self-aggrandizement, as the literal “end all” (in Greek: “alpha and omega”), giving rise to material avarice. It’s also the “in all”, embracing other vices and failings, like, selfishness, egotism, nepotism, incompetence, lacking political will, abuse of power however trivial, and other jetsam/flotsam of malfeasance and misfeasance exploitative of good governance in all negative aspects.

 An ordinary observer – not necessarily keenly observant – can attest to the manifold graft and corruption and other serious crimes often bannered in newspapers in the executive (and its coterie of departments/bureaus/offices), the legislative and the judicial branches committed with obvious temerity. The GOCCs and NFIs are no exceptions to aggravated anarchy.

The LGUs are not far behind in crimes of commission and omission, such as, wastage of public funds “donated” indiscriminately and over-spending on non-essential programs; over-abuse of violative “cash advances” resulting in “bad debts” now piling up in trillions countrywide; abuse of funds by excessive “job order” employments ending in “15-30” idlers for political accommodation; rigged contracts or transactions as “SOP”; not going after “scalawags”, and a host of other anarchy situations.

Again, the most amazing dilemma appears to be the barangay LGUs, supposedly the basic unit of government. The barangay ought to be the strongest entity to stabilize the whole government structure. In practice though, they are the weakest, perhaps owing to the lack of higher EQ and IQ, mostly “inato” in conducting official business, or done “ouido”, if it were playing a musical piece.

In the premier city of this island province, the COA found in post-audit, that most barrio funds were disbursed without supporting documents. One barangay, for instance, disbursed P5 M without any voucher at all.

What a pity to barangay coffers, and to the barrio constituents. The lackadaisical attitude of barangay officials as regards the legal procedure and accounting/auditing formalities and niceties, is not exculpating because of sheer ignorance of the law.  Besides, in disbursement of public funds, the barangay treasurers and the barangay captains have been furnished the necessary law on local government and the implementing circulars/memos. Likewise, the barrio treasurers whose qualifications are spelled out clearly have also undergone seminars and symposiums to have fully prepared them for their fiscal position.

No wonder, Rep. Rachel Marguerite “Cutie” Del Mar is pushing for the restoration of the mandatory pre-audit of accounts prior to disbursement, under House Bill 372. Even on a selective pre-audit basis, the COA or the LGU treasurer’s office doing the pre-audit, can timely discover questionable vouchers and can cleanse them from illegality, or outright nipped in the bud.

 It is, however, forecast or anticipated that LGU executives would again cry “Foul” because their projects or programs would be allegedly delayed. This was the rationale, and unwise one, when the pre-audit requirement then had been altogether scrapped from COA’s jurisdiction.

* * *

Email: [email protected]