Relief goods (FIle photo)
MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Audit (COA) has called the attention of the city government of Ormoc for supposed lack of proper documentation of relief goods for disaster victims.
In a recent COA audit report, Ormoc City received P350,000 in cash donations and P20.66 million in in-kind contributions throughout 2021. The information was published on June 7, 2022.
The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) gave Ormoc City money for Typhoon Odette, but it’s not in the city’s books. The city shared a donation photo on social media.
“Query with the Accounting Office revealed that it was not aware of the in-kind donations received by the City as posted on Facebook; thus, no accounting entries were made for its recognition, and neither distribution sheets on file with their office, except for the one unit ambulance from Pitmaster Foundation Inc. which was duly accounted and recorded in the books of the City,” COA said.
In January 2022, the city received relief goods from NGCP, comprising 200 sacks of rice and 150 bottles of drinking water for Typhoon Odette victims. COA emphasizes the importance of recording all donations to ensure proper distribution. However, the distribution and timeliness to intended beneficiaries could not be confirmed due to the lack of a Summary/List of Donations and an inventory report.
In response, Leyte 4th District Rep. Richard Gomez, whose wife Lucy Torres-Gomez is the Mayor of Ormoc, said on Tuesday that they have worked with non-government organizations (NGOs) to solicit funds for transparency.
Since taxpayers didn’t pay for the in-kind products, the city didn’t register these donations.
Rep. Gomez called the stories claiming irregularities in Ormoc’s procedures “malicious.”
“For transparency, my administration has always tapped local [NGOs] to receive donations given to Ormoc City. These donations are not inputted in the city’s records because the city did not spend for these donations,” he said.
“The only role of the city government is to facilitate the transfer of the donations,” Gomez emphasized.
“The fact that the city government posted the donations on its official social media platforms is in keeping with our being transparent and accountable to the public,” he said.
Gomez maintained COA has not yet given an adverse conclusion on the issue and has only asked the city to explain.
“COA did not make any adverse or negative finding. In the first place, there could not have been any adverse conclusion because nothing irregular really happened,” he added.
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