CEBU Provincial Board Member Christopher Baricuatro admitted reports that some barangays have not received yet their financial assistance from the provincial government.
He said that compared to previous years, the process of getting barangay assistance this year is taking much longer due to additional forms the barangays have to fill up in obtaining the financial aid as required by the Commission on Audit (COA).
The financial assistance for the 1,066 barangays in the province was under the Legislative Assistance Fund (LAF) of the provincial board members.
For 2015 and 2016, the LAF of each PB member amounts to P3.1 million, while the Office of the Vice Governor was worth P19 million. However at present, the LAF is now under the control of the executive department and the Office of the Governor will be the one distributing it.
This after the COA permanently disallowed the LAF for the vice governor and the PB members last June and called it “unconstitutional.”
Baricuatro said the governor’s office might still be adjusting to the new system since the LAF was turned over to the executive department only last September.