FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE MESS

BENEFICIARIES of millions of pesos of so-called “financial assistance” extended by the Dagupan City under the administration of former Mayor Benjamin Lim, which have remained unliquidated, will soon be receiving a letter of demand from city hall.

Mayor Belen Fernandez ordered the City Accounting Office (CAO) to send out the notices following the Commission on Audit (COA) report listing a total of P105 million in unliquidated funds distributed to non-government organizations, people’s organizations and barangays.

Meanwhile, several of the recipients of the funds have made clarifications or finally submitted their liquidation last week.

The president of Rotary Club of Uptown Dagupan appeared during the executive meeting of the mayor with her department heads last September 16 to explain that her club did not receive a supposed P2.25 million in 2010.

Belen Montessa, president of Uptown Rotary, said she was surprised upon reading in The PUNCH about their group’s inclusion in the list and immediately went to see City Accountant Teresita Manaois. (See letter of Mrs. Lilita Yuchongtian, as president of RC Uptown Dagupan (2010-11) on PUNCH FORUM).

UPTOWN-DOWNTOWN

Upon verification, Manaois informed Fernandez that it was the name of Rotary Club of Uptown Dagupan which was inadvertently written in the P2 million check issued by the City Treasurer’s Office intended for the Rotary Club of Downtown Dagupan.

The Rotary Club of Downtown Dagupan, whose name appeared in the voucher for the check, did pick up the check through Nestor Zabala and later follow-up inquiries at Manaois’ office were made by Mark Mapanao.

Zabala is the manager of Magic stores in Dagupan City.

The check eventually became stale as the Rotary Club of Downtown Dagupan was not able to encash it due to the error, according to Manaois.

“Malinaw na. Kasi, maraming tumatawag sa akin. Akala nila, napaghati-hatian na,” said Montessa heaving a sigh of relief.

Manaois said as far as she can remember, the P2 million was among the accounts reverted by the Sangguniang Panlungsod and lumped with other available accounts into one supplemental budget.

Fernandez has ordered Manaois to verify from the City Treasurer’s Office and the City Budget Office whether the P2 million was indeed reverted.

As for the other P250,000 supposedly also given to Rotary Uptown, verification is ongoing.

“There is another P250,000 which we are also validating and trying to figure out who received the amount. But as far as Uptown Dagupan is concerned, we did not receive that amount,” Montessa said.

LIQUIDATION

Meanwhile, the Liwawa ed Asinan Foundation through Lina Tan said they have already liquidated the P300,000 financial assistance given them by the city government. She showed The PUNCH as proof a document signed jointly by Anabelle Balingit, the group’s president, Lim and Manaois.

The city auditor’s report, however, did not reflect this.

The Dagupan City Government Employees Multi-purpose Cooperative (DCGEMPCI) through Rea Manuel and Eduardo Magno also finally submitted liquidation papers last September 18 for the P16.4 million they received in four instances. Total assistance amounted to P19.2M.

The document was prepared by Amparo Nirza of the City Treasurer’s Office and certified by Manaois.

Manaois said the barangays submitted to the Auditor’s Office their respective liquidation but City Auditor Virgilio Quinto was quoted as saying no liquidation has been made by them so far. The liquidation by the barangays does not include the financial assistance received by the Liga ng Mga Barangay through then president Guillermo Vallejos of Poblacion Oeste, now an elected city councilor.

Meanwhile, The PUNCH has requested both the city auditor and city accountant to identify the persons who personally received the checks for groups that have not liquidated like Philippine Councilors League (P1M), Basketball Association of the Philippines (R1)(P5.6M), SK Federation (P1.05M), Dagupan Bangus Jaycees (P2.5M), Dagupan Jaycees (P.6M), National Movement of Young Legislators (P2M), Trauma Foundation (P1.2M), Dagupan City Fiesta Executive Committees (P7.49M), Bangus Festival Executive Committees (P10.4M), Rotary Club of Dagupan East (P.6M), GAPCPA (P1.2M), AGECC (P.6M), Metro Dagupan Chamber of Commerce (P.2M), Circle of Friends Cooperative (P.1M), Dagupan Phil. Chinese Association (P1M), Jr. Dagupan Dalton Clan (P.25M), Hotel Asssociation of Dagupan (P.25M), among others for the information of the organizations.

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