COA questions San Pedro City purchase of luxury cars

SAN PEDRO CITY—The city government violated a Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) circular when it purchased 18 brand-new luxury cars worth P13 million as service vehicles of its barangay captains last year, according to the Commission on Audit (COA).

In a 2014 audit released on its website this month, the COA said the vehicles were bought without the approval of the DILG secretary as stated in DILG Memorandum Circular No. 2013-47, more so on deals involving cars, vans or pick-up types with engine displacement not exceeding 2,200 cc if gasoline-fed or 3,000 cc if diesel-fed.

City Accountant Lorna Andigan said in a phone interview on Monday that she was “not aware of the [DILG] circular” on the procurement of vehicles, even if it was issued in 2013.

According to COA findings, the city government purchased 18 units of Hyundai Accent cars worth P13,332,240 (or P740,680 each) in April 2014. The cars were reported by the Inquirer last year to have been distributed to 19 village chiefs, though Romeo Marcelo, president of the Association of Barangay Captains, got a Toyota Avanza instead.

Only one local leader, Eugenio Ynion Jr. of Barangay San Antonio, did not receive the service vehicle.

In September 2014, the city bought again another vehicle, a 2014 Nissan Frontier Navarra Brute worth P1,203,750, as service vehicle of Cristina Santos, the city’s community affairs officer, the COA report said.

The audit report noted that the vehicles were purchased through “direct contracting,” a procurement method that does not require elaborate bidding documents.

In other transactions, all without public bidding, the city government purchased solar devices worth P4,525,000, 22 Honda motorcycles worth P962,000, and surveying equipment worth P370,000.

“The use of direct contracting as mode of procurement is not valid since conditions for such mode … were not met and documents presented by the agency in support of the procurement were insufficient,” the COA said, “thus obstructing transparency, accountability, efficiency and economy in the use of government resources.”

The audit agency advised the city government to “refrain from using alternative modes of procurement unless absolutely necessary … [and] to resort only to public bidding.”

On the motor vehicles, the COA directed the city to submit an “authority to purchase” from the DILG secretary “for further evaluation.”

Andigan said documents were being completed for compliance with the COA recommendations.