That the Cebu City Council reduced the amount allotted to finance the projects of nongovernment organizations (NGOs) from P10 million last year to P3 million this year is reason enough for NGOs to promptly account for how they spent the money.
Ten million pesos may seem like a pittance to persons used to monitoring the flow of larger amounts.
The amount is dwarfed by the P10 billion in pork barrel funds that our congressmen lost to dummy foundations.
Still, that money came from the sweat of people’s brows and must not be trifled with.
Note that in 2012, the Commission on Audit called City Hall’s attention to unaccounted aid allocations worth P76 million.
That is quite a surprise considering that NGOs in the first place have private, commercial or other institutional patrons.
How much would P10 million to P76 million have bought in medicine for free distribution to the sick in barangay health centers?
How far would the money have gone in creating and maintaining parks in the city?
How many victims of disaster would have benefited from these staggering sums?
NGOs that used their cash assistance wisely would have no trouble proving that they are good stewards who helped the government help those in need.
Many NGOs are quick to publicize their works in various media platforms. They should show the same speed in letting the public know where their money went.
NGOs that do not present an accounting will have none but themselves to blame when City Administrator Jose Mari Poblete starts running after the remiss organizations.
The partnership between the government and NGOs must not come to litigation or any negative end that would be detrimental to the needy.
Just yesterday, Edna Ragudo of the Social Welfare Department’s Crisis Intervention Unit emphasized the government’s need for more NGOs to attend to victims of human trafficking.
Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama ought to consider giving a shorter time frame for NGOs to account for government aid. Their publicly financed accomplishments should be a regular part of his State of the City Address.
Otherwise people will not resist crafting a new motto for his administration: “Together we can make cash vanish.”