MikeLigalig.com

By the Bohol Chronicle

Amid the furor of rampant graft and corruption in the country, City Hall officials and employees with unliquidated cash advances were urged yesterday to “come out in the open and explain to erase public doubts of anomalous use of government funds”.

“We are up to the challenge for a ‘house cleaning’ as this is the only way to get to the bottom of this controversy,” said City Vice Mayor Jose Antonio Veloso said throwing back the challenge at the city mayor whose name appeared with an unsettled cash advance of over P3-million as of December 2007.

The list of unliquidated cash advances, provided by the Commission on Audit (COA), included two top executives under the office of the city mayor – Executive Assistant Arlene Karaan with P722,643.41 and City Administrator Walter Toston with P235,715.

The details of the P6,478,903.46 unliquidated cash advances was finally released by City Auditor Teresita Irig after receiving orders from COA Chairman Reynaldo Villar who had been informed by Veloso that copies of which are withheld by the city auditor and city accountant Kurt Bungabong.

The Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) committee on public accountability, chaired by Kag. Mariquit Oppus, “should trace the accounts and identify the underlying transactions behind the cash advances,” Veloso added in his interview over top-rated radio program “Inyong Alagad” yesterday.

According to the vice mayor, there are several names in the list and they should be summoned by the committee to check if they have already liquidated their cash advance.

“Incurring cash advances is normal as long as it is for a valid purpose and the liquidation is done on time,” Veloso stressed, “if not, then we remind them of their responsibility to settle their accountabilities.”

Under COA rules, there are two types of cash advances – regular and special. A regular cash advance are those released to disbursing officers (ex.: for salaries and wages) while special cash advances are for official travels.

Elected officials can be granted cash advances for their official travel expenses while appointive officials may be granted advances but limited to their cash bond to the Bureau of Treasury which is renewed every year.

A cash advance for local travel should be liquidated within 30 days and foreign travels in 60 days.
However, the vice mayor noted that there are several accounts in the list that are long overdue, in fact, there are a number that remain unliquidated for more than a year now.

“We cannot blame the people to entertain doubts as the city accountant and city auditor tried to conceal the list despite repeated demands by lawmakers in the minority bloc,” Veloso said.

Veloso cited the cash advance of the city mayor that showed an unsettled balance of more than P3 million which means his travel expenses must have been more than the remaining unliquidated balance.

“That’s a huge expenditure for travel. It has to be examined for what purpose the cash advances were used,” he said.

COA rules do not allow additional cash advances if there are unsettled accounts or the limit of the bond has been exceeded.

“You would wonder why the cash withdrawals were allowed. Are these justified by the official? Or, did the COA send demand letters and the accountable official still failed to liquidate?” Veloso asked.

The vice mayor added that if it is proven that there have been demands for liquidation, then there is prima facie evidence that can be a ground for charges of gross neglect of duty as prescribed by COA and civil service guidelines.

Veloso also awaits an updated audit report for fiscal year 2008 that should be considered by the committee of Kag. Oppus.


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