Aloguinsan told to collect P15.6M unliquidated funds

CEBU, Philippines – The Commission on Audit has directed the municipal government of Aloguinsan to collect over P15 million of unliquidated cash advances which have been accumulated in the past four years.

State auditors recommended that the local chief executive should issue demand letters to concerned officials and employees who have unsettled cash advances.

“We recommend the municipal mayor to issue demand letters and enforce the immediate settlement of the cash advance to avoid being reported to appropriate agencies for filing of appropriate charges in accordance with COA Memorandum 2004-014 and 2005-074,”COA said.

According to COA, failure of the concerned officials and employees to comply with the demand letter should be reported to the Civil Service Commission, Office of the Ombudsman, Presidential Anti-Graft Commission or the Department of Justice, for appropriate action.

State auditors found out that as of December 13, 2014 a total of P15,632,362.10 remained unliquidated.

COA said that there were accumulated unsettled cash advances of P8.6 million from previous years up to December 2011. The amount has ballooned to P15.6 by December 2014 because the municipal government continued to grant cash advances even to those officials and employees who have yet to liquidate in violation of the COA rules.

COA Circular 97-002 provides that “no additional cash advances shall be allowed to any official or employee unless the previous cash advances…is first settled.”

Based on the records of Aloguinsan from 2004 to 2011, a total of P9.2 million cash advances have been released but only 7.3 percent was liquidated leaving P8.6 million of unaccounted funds as of December last year.

From 2012 to 2014, an additional of P6.9 million of unliquidated cash advances was reported bringing the total amount to P15.6 million as of December 31, 2014.

“We are concerned of the consequences for the failure of the accountable officers to liquidate their cash advances,” said COA.

COA said that concerned officials and employees may be charged with malversation of public funds under Article 218 of the Revised Penal Code. They are also likely to face administrative cases. — /FPL (FREEMAN)