THE anomalies reported in the qualification and selection of scholars by the past Lim administration, from discovery of “fake, dummy and ghost” scholars, appeared to be just the tip of the iceberg because signatures of recipients of the payroll for all 2,301 scholars appeared to be forged.

This was bared by Mayor Belen Fernandez who said the similarities of the signatures, first noted by City Legal Officer Aurora Valle, strongly suggested  that there were only one ore two persons who received the P20,000 cash due every scholar per school semester over a  three-year period.
Fernandez said given the strong indicators of falsification of documents, she will turn over the documents in question to hand writing experts of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for verification and validation.

Valle pointed out her observation before the finance, budget and appropriations committee under Councilor Redford Erfe-Mejia during the continuation of its hearing on the proposed Supplemental Budget No. 1 and proposed Annual Supplemental Annual Investment Plan No. 1 submitted about months  ago.

The committee, composed of the majority only, simply noted her declaration.
Meanwhile, Fernandez said the findings of the Commission on Audit that there were 141 scholars whose selections violated the terms of the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the past administration’s scholarship committee, validated the series of anomalies noted by the Office of the Mayor and barangay captains.

She said COA’s Audit Observation Memorandum (AOM) dated December 1, 2022 for funds disbursed by the city in February and March 2022 will be forwarded to the COA Regional Office 1 in San Fernando City, La Union for its information and immediate action.

Fernandez said she is bent to getting to the bottom of the widespread corruption in the administration of the city’s scholarship program, citing an estimated 400 unqualified scholars of the past city administration easily cost the city P16 million in wasted resources.

“These anomalies cannot go on unchecked, paying unqualified students as scholars at the expense of more deserving, qualified scholars that include sons and daughters of marginal fishermen, tricycle drivers, labandera, barangay health workers, tanods, ambulant vendors,  who have no chance to go to college because of their situation in life,” she said.

On the repeated call of Councilor Alfie Fernandez for the Fernandez administration to release the remaining P52 million balance of the 2022 annual city budget for the  scholars,  the mayor said the councilor only wants scholars of the Lim administration to be benefitted,  hence “we need P150 million for all the 5,000 scholars.”

The majority in the SP that compose the committee on finance has refused to act on the needed P100 million for the scholarship provided for in the proposed Supplemental Budget No. 1 even if the Sanggunian in June 2022 specifically provided a budget of P200 million as yearly budget for the new scholarship program. (Leonardo Micua)

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