NOTE: THIS STORY WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN THE BOHOL CHRONICLE’S SUNDAY PRINT EDITION.
The Commission on Audit (COA) called the attention of the Provincial Government to check on its lack of transparency and its weak internal control.
COA questioned the Capitol for not posting in the Online Portal the awarded contracts on the procurement under Bayanihan Act One amounting to P68.25 million resulting in “reduced transparency and accountability in management’s utilization of the Bayanihan Grant to Provinces (BGP).
The COA likewise questioned the “loss of funds to the provincial government” amounting to P5,855,610 in the purchase of certain medical supplies for COVID-19 which were procured and paid for at prices “exceeding the price ceiling contained in the Department of Health prize freeze issuances.”
These were contained in the COA report for the fiscal year 2020.
The provincial government was also cited for “preventing reconciliation of budget with accounting information prior to submission to COA” while its appropriations, allotments and obligations for the first quarter of 2020 were submitted quarterly instead of monthly. There was no reconciliation of the budget since the report did not pass through the Provincial Accounting Office but was submitted straight to COA.
Because of this finding COA labeled the Capitol with a”slow down movement of financial information and settlement of accounts” and “weakening internal control in general.”
The commission likewise questioned the fund transfers to LGUs amounting to P18.15 million made despite having unliquidated transfers from previous years amounting to P17.15 million.
NO PROCUREMENT CONFERENCE
The commission found that the procedural requirement of conducting a pre-procurement conference under Sec.20.1 of the 2016 Revised IRR of RA 9184 was not complied with. This caused the incompleteness and inconsistencies in the documents supporting the procurement of the Enhancement of Communication and Security System of the TARSIER 117 project.
The procedure of inviting observers to witness the procurement activities was not complied with reducing transparency in the procurement.
The COA likewise questioned the delayed implementation of Global Environment Faculty-Marine Protected Areas incurred an unutilized fund of P12 million (P12,834,733.80) which is 87% of the total funds received for the purpose.
Because of this delay, the project has failed to strengthen the implementation of the management agreement that has come contrary to the implementation of the Management Agreement (IMA). This prevented the achievement of subproject objectives within the target period to strengthen the conservation of the coastal and marine resources among others.