Give back the advance

THE practice of unliquidated cash advances is one of the more common corrupt practices in government. How it works is no complicated process: a government employee or officer takes money from the public fund through the disbursing officer supposedly for a “special purpose”, as authorized by an approving officer, and then everyone simply forgets about it. In other words, there is no accountability — from the approving officer, the borrower, and the accounting department.

Based on the Commission on Audit’s Accounting Circular No. 2006-001, issued and took effect on November 9, 2006, a “Cash advance granted for travel and other special time-bound undertaking shall be accounted for as ‘Advances to Officers and Employees’ to establish the accountability of the recipient. This shall be liquidated or settled immediately after the travel or completion of the undertaking for which it was granted.” Keywords: accountability, settled immediately. This COA order was clearly violated in Binmaley where Mayor Lorenzo Cerezo, following up on demand letters sent by COA, is now pursuing 70 people who withdrew cash advances of as much as more than P1.4 million during the previous administration under Mayor Simplicio Rosario. What makes the case of Binmaley worse is that cash advances were not just left unliquidated, but involves sums that violate rules on the amount that could be legally taken in advance.

Binmaley is surely but an example of a pattern that pervades many local government units. More of the very same crime could be dug up and hopefully with reformist COA commissioners on deck, finally all government officials will begin to be made to account not just for their cash advances but all the other customary and creative ways that they commit corruption.

For the public, one means of helping the COA in its mission is by reporting corrupt practices through http://www.coa.gov.ph/Fraud.htm.  Public funds are the people’s money and as Cerezo put it: Dapat lang ibalik sa taong bayan.

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Checkmate

IF we abruptly see the departure of US Ambassador Harry Thomas, don’t be surprised.

What he had done was unimaginable of a man holding such lofty position. Hurling the accusation that 40 percent of male visitors to the country came here mainly for sex was, to put it mildly, conduct unbecoming of a diplomat. Not enough that Thomas issued an apology, admitting, through a text message, that he had no facts to back up his accusation. Sen. Loren Legarda said “the apology was not enough.” She wants Thomas to work with the Palace to “sort out the allegations of sex tourism” in the country. Sen. Panfilo Lacson went a step farther. He asked Thomas to leave the country if he failed to substantiate his claims.

Thomas’s back is against the wall. The only honorable thing left for Thomas to do is resign. If this were chess, Thomas faces a checkmate.

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