By Leonardo Micua

 

IN the recent call of Mayor Belen Fernandez for a special audit of the finances of Dagupan by either the regional or national offices of the Commission on Audit, it is possible that she mistrusts the COA in Dagupan or she suspects that office to have become overly biased with the past city administration and will not come out with a credible report.

In any case, it is COA’s reputation that is at stake in this one. Perhaps, the mayor noted that COA had practically closed its eyes to the many alleged irregular transactions committed  under the watch of the past Dagupan City administration. And she has a point.

These shady deals, if you can call them that, are not limited to the two motorboats exposed by Mayor Belen that were already fully paid by the past city treasurer way back in December 2020, but which remained undelivered till today.

Since COA is in charge of auditing all disbursements made by the local government, either small or big, it could have easily detected the irregularity.  But the city auditor didn’t.

I doubt if that  transaction that happened two years ago was ever contained in the Audit Observation Memorandum that it released the following year where it called for disallowances of some officials and employees involved in that transaction.

If COA was blindsided by those in the past administration, then it has lost its independence as a constitutional body in charge of protecting the money of the people.

Many now wonder why it did not even report at all the controversial scholarship program of that past administration that was proven packed with “ghost”, “dummy” and “flying” scholars.

Our source said obviously the local COA did not do its assignment in accordance with its mandate. If it did, many irregularities here and elsewhere would have been nipped in the bud.

I recall that every time Mayor Belen asked for some financial documents, she was always referred by department heads who served during the past administration to get these documents from the COA.

Is it true that COA is keeping the Implementing Rules and Regulation of an ordinance enacted by the Sanggunian in 2020, which to this day many officials have yet to see?

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I met a few colleagues in the news beat who are facing libel, cyber libel and even falsification of documents cases, that are now causing them many sleepless nights, an ordeal that is now draining them financially and physically. 

I can only commiserate them and pray that they can eventually win their legal     battles though how long they may take. 

One of the risks of the profession is libel. If one is not made of sterner stuff, they should run away from this profession and land other jobs. The pittance remuneration that one gets is not commensurate to the hazard that be gets in this profession. 

I heard one colleague saying the hearing of one of his two cases is scheduled almost weekly and is compelled to travel from Pangasinan to Quezon City (with his lawyer) every time there is a hearing.

Imagine how much fortune he’s now spending just to attend the hearings of these two cases filed against him. It certainly is not worth the hassle considering that he’s only getting  a pittance of allowance once a month from his station. 

Well, a journalist placed in that situation will have no option but to face the music. He can’t run away from these cases otherwise he will lose his opportunity to defend himself. 

Worse, if he ignores these cases, he’ll surely find himself being hunted by the law. And knowing that he’s a family man and has a good standing in the town and community where he lives, he can’t afford to become a broadcaster-fugitive. 

He should not follow the example of an ex-journalist who could not answer and is not responding to his cases. He remains locked up in jail because of an entirely different case that is unbailable.

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