Baguio gov’t won’t return cash gift

BAGUIO CITY—The city government received last year a P25-million cash gift from the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) for excelling in local government housekeeping, only to be told two weeks ago that it had to return the money because it was allocated using the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).

Mayor Mauricio Domogan on Monday said the Commission on Audit directed the city government to return the amount.

Baguio received the DILG’s Seal of Good Housekeeping in 2012. The recognition was developed by the late Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo to institutionalize a process of transparency so the public may know how local governments spend funds.

Aside from the government’s Performance Challenge Fund, the DILG provides up to P20 million in assistance to local governments, which receive the Seal of Good Housekeeping.

It was not clear how the cash grant was facilitated through the DAP, which reallocated government savings into “unprogrammed” projects to help stimulate public spending in 2011 and 2012.

Malacañang ended the DAP in December 2013, according to the website of the Department of Budget Management, months before the Supreme Court declared the program unconstitutional.

But Domogan said the city government was not returning the money, noting that the DAP allocation was for DILG programs.

“Let the national government raise the funds to be returned as per COA’s instructions,”he said.

The cash gift has been allocated to the improvement and modernization of Baguio’s sewage treatment facility, Domogan said. Vincent Cabreza, Inquirer Northern Luzon