COA says it has yet to get city hall response

By NITZ ARANCON
Correspondent

CITY hall has yet to explain and justify the issuance of 17 checks that were “missing” and not recorded in its book of accounts as far as the regional office of the Commission on Audit (COA) is concerned.

Celso Vocal, COA director for northern Mindanao, revealed this even as he explained that  he sent a June 14, 2016 letter to Mayor Oscar Moreno to ask for liquidation as a matter of procedure.

Vocal said the COA regional office did not receive city hall’s management response to the notice of suspension.

According to city accountant Beda Joy Elot, she sent the management response to COA Notice of Suspension no. 2016-01-101 auditors on Feb. 29, 2016. The two-page document was received by the office of city auditor Florita Kionisala, the audit team leader, at at 2:32 pm on May 31, 2016.

Vocal said he did not receive a copy of the management response, prompting him to write to Moreno on June 14, 2016.

But even if the regional office of COA received Elot’s response, he would still send the same letter to Moreno while they “evaluate the propriety, the reasonableness of their explanation.”

“If we find out that their explanation is not meritorious, we are going to issue a notice of disallowance. But if their explanation is meritorious, then we are going to lift the notice of suspension,” Vocal said.

The June 14 letter is part of the “due process,” he said.

The COA has called Moreno’s attention regarding the issuance of 17 checks, eight of which had the mayor as payee. The eight checks alone amounted to some P79 million.

Councilor Leon Gan on Monday sought a city council investigation into the “missing” and “unrecorded” checks. Barely a week later, a 60-year old man from Barangay Carmen, Clemente Atoc, filed a complaint for plunder before the Office of the Ombudsman against Moreno, Elot, city treasurer Glenn Banez and city budget officer Percy Salazar over the issuance of the checks. Gan is Atoc’s lawyer.

In his June 14 letter, Vocal called Moreno’s attention regarding documents that have yet to be submitted by city hall to justify the issuance of the 2015 checks.

“The letter that was send to the city mayor was just to inform him about our findings, recommendations on what actions they should take,” he said.

He explained that the COA’s procedure is to release an audit observation memorandum (AOM) first. In case of negative findings, this would be followed by a notice of suspension, notice of disallowance or notice of charge, notice of finality of the decision, and then order of execution.

“All these would happen if we are not contented with the explanation and justification,” Vocal said.

He said local government officials should see to it that they need to take the COA’s memoranda and notices seriously, and quickly act on them because this could result in problems later on.

Vocal said the COA’s notices may be used in filing cases against officials.

“Daghan nang mga panahon nga ang ombudsman, mangayo dinhi kanamo sa notice of suspension ug sila na dayon ang mag-file sa criminal charges against officials involved, ug ila lang kami nga himo-ong witness,” he said.

Roger Tero, COA’s regional supervising auditor, said city hall has yet to settle. “Ako man ang mopirma sa notice of settlement kay ako man ang supervising auditor. Wala pa man ko makapirma ni-ana. It means wala pa kini ma-settle.”

Elot earlier said she explained to state auditors and submitted the documents that were required early this year.

She admitted that there were lapses in the submission of documents “due to the voluminous daily transactions in the City Treasurer’s Office.”

The workload, according to Elot, resulted in “some setbacks in the transmittal of documents which affected the timeliness of recording by the Accounting.”

Reads part of her response to COA: “To date, majority of the transactions concerned were already recorded in our books. Also, necessary adjustments were effected by the City Accounting and Journal Entry Vouchers (JEV) and their  corresponding  vouchers and supporting documents are submitted herewith.”