PROVINCIAL officials of Southern Leyte have a fishy problem.
They declared having received donations of 35,801 cans of sardines in 2021 but the books of the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (PSWDO) only showed 5,900 cans — a difference of 29,901.
And that is not even the meat of their troubles.
The province’s Notes to Financial Statements also showed 28,985 cans of beef loaf and 22,400 cans of corned beef were also not listed on the PSWDO’s records.
Further weighing down their bag of headaches are 1,989 sacks of rice that are either on the PSWDO’s tally but not in the other books, or vice versa.
The variance on the two lists also showed hundreds of unaccounted bottles of drinking water, packs of instant noodles, energy drinks, cereals, and other food and non-food items.
These findings were contained in the 2021 audit report on Southern Leyte released yesterday, May 16.
Auditors said the donations came from “various government and private donors” and were intended for distribution to residents who were affected by Typhon Odette which struck the province in December 2021.
Under COA Circular No. 2014-002, s. 2014, cash and in-kind donations from local or foreign sources should have been issued acknowledgment receipts while distribution to beneficiaries was supposed to be backed by issuance forms.
The Accounting Unit was also required to register the donations, including the declared value in the deed of donation or the bill of lading.
However, this procedure was not followed.
“The accounting staff admitted …that there were items procured by the Province intended for donations that were included in the disclosures which she identified as one of the causes of variance,” the audit team said.
Other than discrepancies in the records, the Commission on Audit said there was also no information on the expiry dates and storage conditions on the foodstuff so there was no indication whether or not the donations are “still fit for human consumption.”
The PSWDO admitted that it was unable to submit the documents to the Provincial Accounting Office because it was preoccupied with the distribution.
