COA TO GUIMARAS CAPITOL: ‘Sanction personnel with unsettled advances’

By Gerome Dalipe

STATE auditors asked the Guimaras Provincial Government to sanction its personnel who failed to settle their cash advances.

In its annual report, the Commission on Audit (COA) slammed the Provincial Government for granting cash advances to its personnel amounting to P4.178-million despite having unsettled advances.

The Provincial Capitol released the additional advances to Capitol’s personnel despite having unsettled advances aged between 30 days to more than one year, the auditors said.

Such practice ran in contrast to Sect. 89 of Presidential Decree1445 (Government Auditing Code of the Philippines) and COA Circular 97-002 dated Feb.10, 1997.

This resulted in overstating the accounts advances to officers and employees and understated the expense accounts.

Sec. 89 of Presidential Decree 1445 states that no cash advance shall be given unless for a legally authorized specific purpose.

A cash advance should be reported on and liquidated as soon as the purpose for which it was given has been served.

Thus, no additional cash advance should be allowed to any official or employee unless the previous cash advance given to him is settled or a proper accounting is made.

COA Circular 97-002 dated Feb. 10, 1997, provides the accountable officer should liquidate his cash advance within five days after 15 days.

Verification of data showed there was an increase in the percentage of liquidation compared in 2017, the auditors said.

That’s because the provincial accountant was persistent in demanding the liquidation of all unliquidated cash advances.

Demand letters were sent to all accountable officers for settlement of their advances. Some settled through salary deduction.

Still, there are still those who failed to settle despite the demand from the Provincial Accounting Office, the auditors said.

Those who are no longer connected with the Province were referred to the Provincial Legal Office for appropriate action.

The department heads were also informed that additional cash advances will not be granted unless previous ones have been liquidated and certification granted in the disbursement vouchers.

In the report, the auditors asked the Provincial Government to strictly comply with the guidelines on the grant, utilization, and liquidation of cash advances.

Likewise, the auditors asked the Capitol to impose sanctions on personnel who still failed to liquidate their outstanding cash advances despite demands.