COA flags Cebu City execs’ expenses for Canada trip
CEBU CITY—The Commission on Audit (COA) has called the attention of the city government for its P1.992 million in cash advances for a 2022 trip to Canada by four city officials, including the mayor.
In a report, state auditors described as “irregular” the disbursement of cash advances for the foreign travel of Mayor Michael Rama and three other city officials. The COA did not mention the names of the city officials who went with Rama to Canada for an official trip in August last year.
In a press conference on Wednesday, Cebu City Administrator Collin Rosell, who told reporters that he joined the trip, said the city government had yet to receive the findings of the COA regarding the trip.
“We really did not have any idea for now regarding the findings of COA. But if there’s a need to show documentation, we (city government) will be the one to handle that,” he said.
“I was there and I know how productive it was. A lot of things are now going on, especially the friendship relations between Vancouver and Cebu City,” he added.
In its 2022 annual audit report, COA said the trip of the four officials contravenes provisions of Executive Order (EO) No. 77 which prescribes the rules, regulations and rates of expenses and allowances for official local and foreign travel of government personnel.
When a government transaction is disallowed, either due to “irregular, unnecessary, excessive, extravagant or illegal,” the public funds used for this transaction must be returned to the government by the people who approved of it.
Travel authority
State auditors said that except for Rama, the three other city officials lacked travel authority from the secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).
Rama’s group was in Canada from Aug. 19 to Aug. 27 last year upon the invitation of the Vancouver-Kensington Constituency Office for the historic enthronement of the image of Sto. Niño at St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Agassiz, British Columbia.
The COA, however, noted that the travel authority for the three other city officials was only issued by Rama, and did not have the authority from the DILG secretary, as stated in EO 77.
State auditors also cited the discrepancy between the cash advance granted for airfare and the airline’s flight price. The COA said that the cash advance of P300,000 for each official to cover airfare was not supported by the airline’s rates.
“Based on our research, airline fares from Cebu to Vancouver, Canada, were only at a range for one-way tickets [of] $450 to $500 or P25,128 to P27,920 in Philippine currency. Thus, the cash advance granted is considered excessive,” it said.
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