Cebu City mayor told: Return funds

CEBU CITY—The Commission on Audit (COA) has ordered city officials and employees, led by Mayor Mike Rama, to return the P20,000 they each received as calamity assistance in December 2013.

In a notice of disallowance, the state auditors said the city officials failed to prove that they were victims of either the 7.2-magnitude earthquake in October 2013 or Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan).

The notice of disallowance was issued by auditor Cymbeline Celia Chiong-Uy on June 23, 2014, but was received by city hall only on Jan. 26.

It was addressed to Rama and 39 other city officials and government employees who were held liable for the unauthorized release of the calamity funds.

Rama, who used the money to pay for his electric bills, insisted there was nothing wrong with the officials accepting the funds.

“There was no corruption because the money went to the employees,” he said. He said the officials would fight the COA order up to the Supreme Court.

Vice Mayor Edgar Labella said they would appeal the order to the COA central office. “It’s just a disallowance,” he said.

The city council passed budget ordinance No. 2379, allocating P84.5 million in calamity funds for city officials and employees. The funds were released in December 2013.

In its 2013 audit report, the COA said the release of the funds was “highly questionable” and violated the Salary Standardization Law.

The auditors also questioned why the assistance was recorded as “donations” and charged to an account for donations under the office of the city administrator.

Lawyer Remeylio Delute filed an administrative complaint against city officials, including Rama, over the fund controversy.

In her six-page notice, Uy said that while the funds were authorized by a city ordinance, it had no legal basis.

In the Local Government Code, supplemental budget may be allowed only in times of calamities and used to purchase supplies and materials “indispensable” to preventing loss of lives or property damage.

The COA notice said there was no proof to show that the officials who received the calamity funds were victims of either the quake or Yolanda.

It said the release of calamity funds to the officials was not even part of the disaster risk management program of the city which allows the release of money from the city’s local disaster risk reduction management fund.