Guimbal hit for ‘slow’ project implementation

By: Gerome Dalipe

The Commission on Audit (COA) scored the municipal government of Guimbal, Iloilo for being slow in the implementation of various projects funded by the national government in 2018.

Apart from slow project implementation, the state auditors said the municipal government also failed to monitor these government projects.

The practice violated the provisions of the Government Auditing Code of the Philippines, the auditors said in their annual report on Guimbal’s financial transactions in 2018.

“(This is) contrary to the declared policy of the state in the management and utilization of its resources, of securing it against loss or wastage and ensuring efficiency and economy in the operations of government,” read the COA report.

The auditors, in their report, also urged the mayor to direct the municipal hall officials to expedite the implementation of the Bottom-up Budgeting (BuB) projects.

Apart from BuB projects, the auditors also discovered the low utilization of Guimbal’s 20 percent Development Fund.

Thus, it defeated the purpose of Section 287 of Republic Act (RA) No. 7160 or the Local Government Code of 1991 on the proper utilization of National Government-initiated projects meant to reduce poverty in the grassroots in 2018.

The low fund utilization “deprived the constituents of fully availing the benefits which should have derived from developmental projects.”

In their report, the auditors asked the mayor to direct the concerned town officials to revisit the projects funded by the 20 percent Development Fund.

This is to ensure that only those that are needed by the municipality’s constituents are included.

Likewise, the mayor is tasked to properly identify the projects to be funded by the development fund to effectively and efficiently implement these projects.

The mayor is directed to set up an effective monitoring and feedback system in the implementation of the projects.