How did Capitol spend P36.8 million in disaster funds?

THE good news is that the Province of Cebu has deep pockets to spend for calamities.

About P126.4 million is available and untouched from its Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund.

The bad news is that no report was made about how P36.8 million of the fund was spent last year.

Auditors noted this lapse, including the failure to transfer the large unspent balance to a special trust fund to ensure a standby amount ready for any emergency over the next five years.

In a May 28 Audit Observation Memorandum, the Commission on Audit asked Acting Gov. Agnes Magpale to submit a report on the use of the disaster fund.

COA also recommended that the provincial accountant submit monthly reports on how the fund is used.

“We promised COA that we will transfer the funds this year because in 2010 and 2011, no one took action,” said Magpale in an interview.

She was asked to give her comments on the auditors’ findings, which will be taken up in an exit conference.

The use of the disaster fund during the term of suspended Governor Gwendolyn Garica has come under scrutiny.

Last year, COA questioned her donation of millions of pesos as disaster aid to provinces in Mindanao, the Visayas, including Ilocos, which she often handed over in personal trips to typhoon-hit areas.

The donations were not covered by resolutions of the Provincial Board.

Auditors noted that the unspent balance of P126.47 million was not transferred to a special Trust Fund for a five-year period, as required by law.

Each local government has to set aside at least five percent of its revenue for the disaster fund.

The Province of Cebu, with its more than P2 billion annual budget which makes it the “richest” province in the country, appropriated P98.7 million in its General Fund in 2012 for disaster risk and reduction.

Only P36.88 million was spent, leaving a balance of P61.48 million. Added to another P64.63 unspent balance in 2011, the total amount available for disaster response is P126,479,017.30 /Correspondent Peter L. Romanillos