THE provincial government of Catanduanes rented 3,333 sets of togas for graduating public elementary and high school students in 2020 but only a few were actually used as only five of 56 schools held commencement exercises due to the raging COVID-19 pandemic.
In its 2022 audit report on the province, the Commission on Audit held that the rent transaction was irregular and recommended that the provincial governor require responsible officials to refund the entire sum.
The audit team specifically tagged then Vice Governor Shirley Abundo, then sitting as acting governor, as the one who signed the contract agreement.
However, the auditors questioned the propriety of the transaction, noting that the entire province was under a lockdown in an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19 infection.
Likewise, the COA noted that the procurement request dated February 3, 2020 listed only 37 schools without providing how many sets of togas were required by each school.
A Notice of Suspension was issued by the audit team against the rent agreement as it required submission of additional documents.
The acting governor submitted a list of schools which grew from only 37 to 56. Strangely, only 18 of 56 were in the original list of 37 schools attached to the procurement request (PR).
Auditors said the variance in the original list and the new one was indicative that the names of schools in the PR were only randomly chosen, which explains the lack of information on the number of togas per school which should have been a key factor to determine how many sets were needed.
Likewise, while the purchase request was dated February 3, 2020, the supposed letter-requests from majority of the schools were received by the Office of the Vice Governor beyond the date of the document.
“Confirmation made by the Audit Team with the recipient-schools disclosed that out of the 37, only eight conducted virtual/home-based graduation rites and only four received togas from the Provincial Government,” the COA said.
While the inspection and acceptance reports were dated April 7, 2020, the schools submitted acknowledgment receipts dated between March 29 to April 1, 2020 which meant the sets of togas were distributed to schools earlier than the documents showed.
All these happened while the province was declared under lockdown on March 15, 2020 based on an Executive Order signed by the acting governor herself.
“Considering that the then Acting Governor was the one who issued the aforementioned EO, she was well aware of the fact that mass gatherings are prohibited and the possibility of the conduct of graduation rites was already remote for most schools,” the COA noted.
The provincial government said it will abide by the audit recommendation to require responsible officials to reimburse the full amount paid to the supplier.
