Commission on Audit (INQUIRER FILE PHOTO)
The Commission on Audit (COA) called out an agency of the Department of the Interior and Local Governments (DILG) for spending P15.2 million on seminars in hotels in 2016 when it could have used a training center it was leasing for P5.53 million.
In its annual audit report, the COA scored the Local Government Academy (LGA) for spending “unnecessary amounts” for seminars in Metro Manila hotels when it had a training center in Los Baños, Laguna.
The LGA explained that it could not use the LGA Training Center at the University of the Philippines in Los Baños (UPLB) because it was in disrepair.
But state auditors said the LGA should have addressed the needed repairs because the agency was also leasing the
UP property.
The 38,766-square meter facility is covered by a five-year lease contract from July 2012 to July 2017.
“They should have maintained it properly for them to be able to maximize its use while they are on it and could have saved hotel expenses,” read the report.
Training workshops
“All these could have been avoided or saved had LGA maintained the facility giving immediate attention to the needed repairs thereby maximizing its utilization,” the report added.
In previous years, the LGA held its training workshops for DILG and local government unit personnel at the UPLB facility.
The facility has a conference hall that can accommodate 200 people, five meeting rooms that can hold 20 to 40 participants and a case room that seats 80 to 100.
It is also equipped with overhead projectors, video players and television sets
as well as dormitories for 150 people and executive rooms for 50 occupants.
But in 2016, the CoA noted the LGA seldom used the center due to its physical condition. Auditors found rain leakage in the facility, especially in its conference hall.
According to the report, the LGA submitted a list showing that 16 activities were held by UPLB and the DILG’s Laguna office but these were attended mostly by a “minimal number
of participants.”
The LGA said it was unable to begin repairs because the contract had not been signed and was released to them only late last year.
“They however assured [us] that after the repairs [are] made, they will consider maximizing the use of the training facility,” the CoA reported.
Training expenses usually tops the maintenance and other operating expenses of the LGA, reaching P109.27 million in 2016, 42 percent more than the P76.89 million spent in 2015.