Is Iloilo Capitol hoarding P92.5M worth of fuel?

By: Gerome Dalipe

IS THE Iloilo Provincial Government amassing almost P100 million worth of fuel without having the appropriate depot?

The provincial government can be misinterpreted of doing so due to the failure of the General Services Office (GSO) to conduct complete physical inventory of supplies or property, the Commission on Audit (COA) reported.

“The incomplete conduct of physical inventory limited the validation of its existence and accuracy of the reported balances,” COA’s 2018 Annual Audit report on the Capitol read.

The auditors said the GSO failed to conduct an annual physical count of the inventory held for consumption.

Likewise, the Provincial Government offices did not regularly prepare and submit requisition and issue slips for the periods that the supplies or property were utilized.

This violates provisions of the New Government Auditing System Manual for local government units, thus additional procurement of the supplies is unnecessary due to the existing stocks.

Physical count of inventory items should be conducted semestrally and included in the report on physical count of inventories (RPCI), the auditors said.

But a review of supplies and materials that comprised the inventory held for consumption indicated an increase of P37.61 million, which means that the value of unaccounted materials and supplies has ballooned.

Fuel consumption reports were not also regularly prepared and submitted to the Provincial Accounting Office, resulting in the accumulation of balances, the auditors noted.

“Had the physical count been carried out, immediate investigation and demand from the concerned offices of the variances noted can be issued,” the auditors said.

While the audit team lauded Capitol’s partial compliance, which reduced the balance by P5.6 million, the remaining P92.5 million was “still too material, that if not liquidated can be misinterpreted that the (Capitol) was hoarding large quantity of fuel without having a depot.”

In the report, the auditors urged all Capitol department heads concerned to render report on all the inventories received, issued, and utilized.

The GSO should regularly demand the submission of the report to help them in their ongoing reconciliations.

The auditors also asked the governor to direct the GSO to coordinate with all department heads and designated supply officers to formulate policies and procedures in the monitoring of all inventories.

The governor is also urged to direct all department heads to render accounts on all supplies and property and submit regular reports to the GSO for reconciliation.