ONCE the Commission on Audit (COA) completes its audit report on the true state of finances of Dagupan, those involved in deliberately deceiving the city with misstated city’s funds will likely be slapped with appropriate charges.

This became apparent after Councilor Maybelyn Fernandez, who is back as majority floor leader of the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP), revealed that the Lim administration had routinely misrepresented accounts in the city’s annual budget.

Fernandez, speaking in a program over Kabaleyan Channel hosted by Atty. Gonzalo Duque, said laws were violated when the past Lim administration used current budgets to pay for obligations incurred in previous years.

Earlier, records made public by Luz De Guzman, assistant supervising administrative officer, showed that this violation was repeatedly done under Lim starting during the second half of 2010 when obligations that year were paid from the budget for 2011.

Subsequently, unpaid obligations for 2011 were paid from the budget of 2012 and unpaid obligations for 2012 were paid from the budget of 2013.

COA REVIEW

Fernandez recalled that she, with concurrence from then vice mayor and now Mayor Belen Fernandez, sought a special audit by the COA after noting that something was amiss in the finances of the city with the declaration of P1 million surplus in 2012 when in fact the unpaid accounts that year in the amount of P22 million were paid out of the 2013 budget.

“I understand COA representatives from Manila came and took some documents that they are now studying,” Fernandez said.

As to the violations, the lady councilor said,  “Hindi pupuwedeng magbayad ang siyudad ng obligasyon ng nakaraang taon mula sa pondo ng kasalukuyang taon kasi may allocation na po ang budget para doon.”

This, she said, can only be done under special circumstances and subject to the SP’s review and approval.

Fernandez added that she repeatedly cited that particular law in past SP sessions but some department heads defended their acts in a committee hearing conducted by Councilor Jess Canto, former chairman of the committee on finance.

The Lim administration declared an annual budget surplus from 2010 to 2012 at P1.9 million in 2010 when its unpaid electric bills that year was P5.6 million; P3.9 million surplus in 2011but with unpaid electric bills of P33.02 million; and P1 million in 2012 with unpaid obligations of P21 million.

The unsettled obligations in 2012 was exacerbated by under-collection of revenues in the amount of P44 million.

Councilor Fernandez said had Lim been more open to the SP, the legislative could have taken steps to help solve the problem about the finances in the city.

Under Lim, department heads were not allowed to attend SP sessions to discuss the budget and a gag order was imposed on them.

The new administration of Mayor Fernandez, following a review of the city coffer, discovered that it has only P8.5 million cash on hand against a total projected expense of P56.3 million for the rest of 2013.

Mayor Fernandez is now enforcing belt-tightening and cost-cutting measures, including a prohibition on rendering overtime work with pay, noting that overtime pay of some P1.4 million supposedly rendered during the last Bangus Festival remains unpaid.

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