Quezon City Hall (Photo from the Facebook account of the QC Government)
MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Audit (COA) has flagged the Quezon City government for failing to present supporting documents in P169.7 million worth of payments to suppliers and contractors in 2018.
In its audit of the city government made public last July 5, COA said that its findings were obtained from a review of Quezon City’s payments, which totals P418.2 million.
“Our audit disclosed that the payment to various suppliers/contractors were not supported with complete documentation contrary to Section 4 (6) of PD No. 1445 and Section 9 of COA Circular No. 2012-001,” the commission said. “As a result, the validity and regularity of the transaction cannot be ascertained.”
In a table provided by COA, there are 35 ambulance vans worth P92.28 million and two other ambulances worth P4.8 million bought from Toyota Quezon Avenue without certificates of registration, insurance papers from the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), and product demonstration reports.
The 35 vans also did not have instruction manuals, COA said.
The following also did not have product demonstration reports:
- four PVC water bladder onion tanks and six water tanks from LEX-MAR General Merchandise worth P9.356 million and P14.03 million, respectively
- a firetruck from AFKAR Auto Supply worth P2.778 million
- two unmanned mobile firefighting tanks from PALMER Asia Inc. worth P46.45 million
The water tanks and the firetruck were procured last Feb. 4 and the vehicles on Feb. 19. The unmanned fire tankers were bought last March 5.
During that time, the city was headed by then-Mayor Herbert Bautista and then-Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte.
Belmonte, now city mayor, ran for the post in the last 2019 midterm elections. She edged out former 1st District Rep. Vincent Crisologo.
COA ordered Quezon City Hall to submit the missing documents for verification and to stop the practice of releasing payments to suppliers and contractors without the presentation of required files.
(Editor: Alexander T. Magno)