Deficiencies found in collection, contracts, projects of Balamban

CEBU, Philippines - The Commission on Audit -7 has ordered officials of Balamban town to enforce the collection of some disallowances amounting to P234,757 that remain unsettled for almost 11 years now.

“The head of agency (Balamban Mayor Alex Binghay) should enforce collection of said disallowances and charges, considering that they have already become final and executory due to the length of time that they remained unsettled,” COA said in a report released recently.

COA said the delay in the collection of disallowances the Manual on Certificate of Settlement and Balances. The uncollected disallowances were as of December 31, 2009.

COA said the disallowances were also not appealed within the reglementary period of six months from notice, which reportedly violates provisions of Presidential Decree 1445.

The town officials concerned reasoned that persons liable for such deficiencies are no longer in government service.

Meanwhile, COA also found out that copies of contracts of some projects were not submitted five days after their “perfection,” which reportedly violated COA Memorandum Circular 76- 34 and 87-278. 

Immediate review and verification reportedly could not be made, as copies of the contracts were just attached to the disbursement vouchers.

Section 3.2 of the COA circular states that after the contract is signed, the agency shall furnish the unit auditor a copy of the document within five days.

The municipal officials were informed of the deficiency but the municipal engineer claimed she was unaware of such regulation, although she promised to abide by it.

In another issue, COA said it is a misnomer for the town to call one project a “housing project” since there reportedly are not housing units being built there. COA said the project can only be referred to as site development.

Andoni Aboitiz, president and chief operating officer of Aboitiz Land Inc. had offered Mayor Alex Binghay a parcel of land consisting of about 27, 988 square meters in barangay Pondol suitable for a socialized housing program. Binghay accepted the offer and registered the parcel of lot under the name of the municipality to acquire the proof of ownership of the property.

A Memorandum of Agreement was subsequently entered into between the National Housing Authority, Aboitiz Land Inc. and the municipal government to undertake the project and the town secured a P13 million loan from the Philippine National Bank to finance the project. The loan is payable within five years.

WTG Construction won the bidding for the construction of the “Community Housing Project” amounting to P12, 645, 179.

The items of work include mobilization of P125,000; miscellaneous works, P177, 825; survey works, P381, 956; site preparation, P2, 076, 326; roadworks, P5, 511, 484; drainage works, P3, 323, 150 and water line installation of P977, 536.

The project was completed in July 2008 and the contractor was also paid in full.

However, auditors said there was no document that would show contractor had turned over the project and accepted by the municipal government.

“Per ocular inspection conducted, the areas where housing units are supposedly constructed were dominated by different variety of trees and weeds instead of houses. Understandably, this situation existed due to the fact that Sangguniang Bayan of Balamban has not enacted an ordinance governing the guidelines in the disposition or sale of housing lots,” COA said.

Personnel from the Municipal Engineer’s Office reportedly said some individuals signified to purchase the lots, but in the absence of guidelines, the municipality could not dispose of the property.

“Had the Sangguniang Bayan anticipated to enact an ordinance while the site development was in progress, then undoubtedly during the period from July 2008 to Feb. 2009, the municipality could have sold the lots and generated funds to pay its loan. Moreover, there could have been housing units constructed in the area, “state auditors said.

COA 7 recommended that the town council should enact an ordinance prescribing all policies relative to the project to include disposition of home lots, cost recovery and state management. — Garry B. Lao/JMO (THE FREEMAN)