By the Bohol Chronicle
The Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas is formally asked to look into the
unexplained P6.5 million cash advances of city government officials and employees.
City Vice Mayor Jose Antonio Veloso lodged a complaint against City Auditor Teresita Irig and City Accountant Kurt Bungabong at the Ombudsman for their refusal to reveal papers pertaining to the unliquidated city funds.
In a complaint filed with the office of Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas Pelagio Apostol, the vice mayor conveyed the dilemma over the withheld documents that contained the list of accountable officials and employees which had been demanded from the city auditor and city accountant to shed light on the unliquidated cash advances.
Veloso’s letter informed Apostol that the huge unaccounted amount is among 17 audit findings of the Commission on Audit (COA) in its Annual Audit Report for 2007 of the city government.
“These documents being requested are urgently needed to determine whether or not the proper processes have been observed by the concerned city officials/employees,†the letter stated.
The vice mayor told the deputy Ombudsman that obtaining a copy on the details of the unliquidated cash advances “is part of the oversight function of the Sanggunian, which he presides, to enable the same to determine the proper action to undertake should an in-depth investigation be deemed necessary in aid of legislationâ€.
Several letters to the city auditor and the city accountant to furnish the said documents have been ignored, Veloso continued.
Veloso also called for an inquiry into the acts of the City Auditor Irig as his letter requesting the details of cash advances was forwarded to City Mayor Dan Lim for “unknown reasonsâ€.
According to Veloso, the schedule of unliquidated cash advances was excluded from the 2007 audit report which stirred the public to doubt its transparency.
“These documents are supposed to be open to public scrutiny,†he said.
A sworn statement by Veloso was also submitted to the Ombudsman which stated in detail the events that led to the denial and concealment of the documents by Irig and Bungabong.
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