BTF to go after delinquent NGOs
UNLIQUIDATED P105.2-M FUND
MAYOR Belen Fernandez will create a task force that will go after non-government organizations (NGOs) that received financial assistance amounting to P105.2 million from the city government since 2010 but have failed to liquidate and account for the monies received.
Fernandez directed City Administrator Farah Decano to draft an executive order creating the task force even as she stressed that the funds were released during the administration of her predecessor, former Mayor Benjamin Lim.
The Commission on Audit (COA) in its audit report for 2013, recommended to the city government that exert efforts must be made to make the concerned NGOs account for the public funds given them.
“It is not just a matter of submitting a liquidation report, the nature of expenses must be allowed by (COA) regulations,” Fernandez said.
Based on the annexes in the COA report, among those that have not been liquidated are the financial assistance given to the executive committees of the city fiestas from 2011 to 2012 and the executive committees of the Bangus Festival from 2011 to 2013.
The COA audit confirmed that the Fernandez administration, did not release any fund assistance to NGOs, including fiesta and festival executive committees.
The mayor had declared early on that the illegal practice of granting financial assistance to NGOs and private groups will have to stop.
The issuance of such financial assistance is illegal under the law, according to COA.
No financial assistance was given to the executive committee headed by lawyer Liberato Reyna Jr., president of the Dagupan People’s Organization, for the management of the 2013 fiesta.
The expenses were covered by private sponsorships.
Less than two months after the 2013 fiesta, the executive committee rendered an accounting of the funds spent.
Fernandez also said the accounting of the funds generated for the 2014 Bangus Festival will be submitted this month.
Some of the recipients of financial assistance during the past Dagupan city administration included prominent civic clubs and a cooperative organized by city government employees.
The Government Association of Certified Accountant (GACPA) headed by former city auditor Ofelia Celi also received P1 million as financial assistance and has remained unliquidated.
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