Cooperative told to settle P300,000 aid from City Hall

By: Gerome Dalipe

A COOPERATIVE based in Iloilo City has yet to settle the financial assistance granted by the city government amounting to P300,000 in 2013, state auditors discovered.

In its annual report, the Commission on Audit (COA) said that the City’s financial assistance released to the Mabini Producer Cooperative (MPC) remained unsettled about five years after the aid was released.

The auditors said this violated COA Circular 2007-001 dated Oct. 25, 2007, which provides guidelines in the granting, utilization, accounting and auditing of the funds released to non-governmental organizations or cooperatives.

“Continuous monitoring of any development on the MPC’S action on the liquidation of financial assistance was done through text messaging, however, it failed to comply with requirements,” read the COA report.

The City Government granted P300,000 as financial assistance to MPC for the propagation of hybrid native chicken and other livestock in 2013.

But the cooperative failed to submit its fund utilization report to the City Government about five years after the financial aid was released.

The Philippine Cooperative Code of 2008 provides the process of liquidation of a cooperative such as the disposition, conveyance, and distribution of its properties and assets.

The city accountant informed the auditors that they already transmitted the documents relating to the financial aid including the follow-up letters for the liquidation of such grant.

The accountant said they even prepared the liquidation report on behalf of MPC but the operations manager verbally refused to sign the report as per advice by his lawyer.

Likewise, the city accountant requested from the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) for certification as to the compliance of MPC with the CDA’s requirements.

But the CDA chief confirmed MPC was issued show-cause order for failure to comply with the required reports and stopped operations for two consecutive years.

In the report, the auditors asked the city accountant to require the MPC to liquidate the financial assistance to ensure that the fund transferred is properly accounted for.

The city accountant is also urged to demand the immediate settlement of the financial aid from the MPC officers.