P1.2-M financial aid to brgys, coop still unsettled

By: Gerome Dalipe

SOME P1.2-million in financial aids to 31 Iloilo City barangays remain unsettled as of last year.

In its 2018 annual audit report, the Commission on Audit (COA) said the above unliquidated financial aid resulted in the delayed accounting and reporting of the public fund utilization.

“The barangays with unliquidated financial assistance to submit immediately the liquidation reports, otherwise return the amount, as the case may be, especially those with long outstanding prior years’ balances,” read the COA.

In the report, the auditors asked the city accountant to facilitate the filing of a request for-write off of the un-reconciled amount that may be considered dormant.

This is in compliance with COA Circular 2016-005, which provides for the guidelines and procedures on the write-off of dormant receivables accounts, unliquidated cash advances and fund transfers.

Likewise, the city accountant and head of the Internal Audit Services Office are tasked to conduct prompt accounting and reporting of the utilization of financial assistance by the barangays to ensure liquidation of fund transfers.

Apart from the unsettled village financial aid, the auditors also said the P300, 000 financial assistance to the Mabini Producer Cooperative remained outstanding in the books despite the lapse of more than four years since 2007.

The auditors renewed their call for the cooperative to liquidate the financial assistance to ensure that the fund transferred is properly accounted for.

The auditors also asked the city lawyers to initiate any legal proceedings on the claim of the City Government with the cooperative.