THE urgency of responding to the COVID-19 pandemic does not excuse government agencies from disregarding transparency and accountability on the use of government funds.
With this pronouncement, the Commission on Audit required the provincial government of Bukidnon to submit a full liquidation of the P516.753 million released as “donations” to Valencia City, Malaybalay City and 20 municipalities in 2020.
It said the donation to each local government unit should be backed by a memorandum of agreement, statement of expenditures from the LGU recipients, report of checks issued, and report of cash disbursement.
Additionally, the provincial government was told to specify the conditions, requirements, and responsibilities of the recipient town or city relative to the amounts released.
Based on the list of LGUs attached to the 2020 audit report released last April 28, the biggest sums went to Valencia City with P89.22 million and Malaybalay City with P84.83 million.
Among the municipalities, the biggest amounts went to Manolo Fortich (P42.18 million), Maramag (P37.76 million), Quezon (P33.33 million), Talakag (P27.58 milion), Libona (P20.3 million), and Don Carlos (P19.1 million).
Provincial officials said there were 101,743 household beneficiaries for the cash donations from the province and the distribution of sums were based on the number of identified beneficiaries per city or town.
However, the audit team noted that other than the breakdown of numbers and amounts, the province did not comply with the requirements under COA Circular No. 2012-001 that such transactions should be covered by an approved project expenditure or estimated expenses with clear project objectives as well as a measurable output.
“The names of the beneficiaries per LGU were not clearly identified, or if determination rests with the LGU, there were not specific guidelines on the eligibility requirements of the beneficiaries,” it pointed out.
“In the absence of a Memorandum of Agreement, the conditions, requirements and responsibilities of the IA (implementing agencies) on the utilization of funds transferred were not properly established and clearly defined,” auditors said.
“There is no basis in verifying the eligibility of the actual beneficiaries since criteria were not specified and controls were not provided to ensure that only eligible and deserving beneficiaries were given and no duplication of beneficiaries occurred,” they added.
In its reply to the audit findings that was quoted in the report, Bukidnon claimed that when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, “everybody was upset including our government leaders in the province.”
“With majority of people in the province going hungry and starving after losing their jobs and deprived of their earnings, particularly the informal workers, our political leaders in the province could not afford just sitting in their laurel,” the provincial government said.
It claimed that since the Sangguniang Panlalawigan passed Ordinance No. 2020-023 approved the amount of P600 million as donations, the sum is no longer subject to liquidation.
Likewise, it said that because of time constraints and considering the “urgency nature of the matter (sic)” the province thought requiring each LGU to enter into a memorandum of agreement “is no longer practical.”
“Distribution of welfare goods could not be delayed, otherwise, by the time the food assistance had reached the target impoverished beneficiaries, they would have died of hunger,” the provincial government insisted.
Government auditors were unimpressed, however, noting that while a certain amount of leniency is allowed due to the public health crisis, it was not a license for government agencies to ignore rules on transparency and accountability for public funds.
“(T)here is also a need to ensure that government transactions and funds remain properly accounted for and that information on the funds and their use are reliable, accurate and transparent to enhance accountability,” the audit team stressed.
