Baraan dares COA to a debate on city’s finances
IF the Dagupan City’s Administrator is to be believed, the Commission on Audit’s report on Dagupan City’s finances is not true.
City Administrator Rafael Baraan vehemently rejected the recent financial report of the Commission on Audit that ranked the city as number one spender and reporting the lowest in net income among eight cities in the Ilocos region for 2005.
Expressing exasperation with the COA report, Baraan claimed that the figures were inaccurate and challenged COA to a debate with the city’s financial officials on the true state of affairs of the city. But he failed to cite a specific data that he claimed to be inaccurate.
He also did not identify who among the city’s officials should debate with COA.
The COA report, published in three leading daily newspapers, stated that Dagupan only retained five per cent net income or P18.9 million from its total income of P357.4 million after deducting expenses amounting to P338.5 million in year 2005.
A more recent COA report, published in national dailies on the financial highlights of Local Government Units, listed Dagupan’s P18.9 million net income was among the 10 lowest throughout the country, among 117 cities.
Reacting to that analysis, Baraan told local reporters that COA’s interpretation of the financial report for the city was “incorrect” and “not precise”.
Baraan also accused the PUNCH’s report last week citing the city’s huge expenses last year as an exaggeration with the intent of putting the city in a bad light. The PUNCH lifted the figures from COA’s report.
Meanwhile, City Auditor Lourdes Vila, COA’s representative in the city, maintained that the COA’s report on the city’s finances is based on the records that the city submits to COA before the year-end, debunking Baraan’s claim that COA’s figures and analysis are inaccurate.
City Budget Officer Ildefonso Calimlim supported Vila’s statement and said COA simply lifts from the financial records of the city, and it cannot possible concoct its own report. – AQL
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