Moreno as payee

Ben Contreras

ON June 14, 2016, the Commission on Audit (COA) sent a copy of its report to Mayor Oscar Moreno detailing its findings during an audit conducted in February 2016.

One of the findings: there were 17 encashed checks amounting to P79,197,140.59, allegedly missing, were not recorded in the books of account, The COA said the regularity of these disbursements could not be ascertained, and the Cash in Bank-Local Currency, Current Account is overstated by this amount and understated the other affected accounts contrary to provisions in RA 7160 and PD 1445.

Was there a violation or was it an act contrary to the provision of RA 7160? For a non-lawyer, looking for that “provision” can be very taxing since RA 7160 is quite long.

PD 1445 is the “Government Auditing Code of the Philippines.” “It is the declared policy of the State that the resources of the government shall be managed, expended and utilized in accordance with law and regulations, and safeguarded against loss and wastage through illegal and improper disposition, with a view to ensuring efficiency, economy and effectiveness in the operation of government. The responsibility to take care that such policy is faithfully adhered to rests directly with the chief or head of the government agency concern.

The fifth page of the document I got was the “schedule of unrecorded and unsubmitted disbursement vouchers as of Dec. 31, 2015.” There were 17 checks amounting to P79 million plus.

Of the 17 checks, eight were issued to Mayor Oscar S. Moreno (payee) with a total amount of P79 million within a period of 11 months: Jan. 6, 2015 – P13,000,000 (PPSBI #437880), Jan. 7, 2015 – P11,000,000 (PPSBI #437881), Jan. 8, 2015 – P12,500,000 (PVB #2276448), Jan. 9, 2015 – P12,500,000 (PVB #276449), Oct. 7, 2015 – P5,000,000 (LBP-Velez #1235388), Oct. 27, 2015 – P5,000,000 (LBP-Velez #1246358), Nov. 5, 2015 – P10,000,000 (LBP-Velez #1246497) and finally, Nov. 11, 2015 – P10,000,000 (LBP-Velez # 47409977).

The other nine checks were issued to the Land Bank of the Philippines, Land Transportation Office, Glenn Bañez, Moresco 1 and Philhealth Insurance Corp..

I will not speculate where the money went and for what purposes. Suffice it to say, issuing government checks to a government official (payee) and in such huge amount smacks of irregularity, suspicious and abuse of authority unless, of course, if the amount represents his salary.

This matter has been the talk of the town and speculations for weeks but I had to get a copy of this document first before I decided to write about it.

Would this become another case against Moreno? Or would Moreno get away with it again, the way he got away from being dismissed and suspended?

The DILG has been criticized for interpreting the law instead of carrying out the order of a court. But being partisan in its duty is inevitable especially so when the subject is a partymate of their head once (DILG Secretary).

Unless Moreno could come up with a good explanation, people would always entertain all sorts of speculations on how the money was spent.

The banks, all government banks, I suppose, cannot be compelled to divulge anything. This necessitates the passing of the Freedom of Information Bill. I had that experience before when I tried to get information from a government bank and was told to get the permission of the mayor first. Is history repeating itself?

Our justice system is again put to a test.

I ask again: Who knows the real income of the city government?

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I received report that a problematic road in Lumbia has already been restored. Thank you!