The facade of the Cebu City Hall legislative building.| CDN Digital file photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines – The Commission on Audit (COA) flagged Cebu City’s release of P50 million worth of assistance to local government units (LGUs) in Luzon that were hit by a strong earthquake in 2022.
Auditors disapproved of the charging of the allocation to the city’s Quick Response Fund (QRF) that was intended for disaster relief and recovery programs.
The donation, COA said, placed the city at risk of “unnecessarily depleting the fund which may reduce the City’s capability to wage a quick response to some calamities happening in its jurisdiction.”
Cebu City had a QRF of P94.8 million in 2022. With the donation of P50 million to Abra province, the city was only left with a balance of P44.8 million for its use for the rest of the year.
According to the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010, 70 percent of the annual Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund (LDRRMF) is to be set aside for disaster prevention and mitigation, preparedness, response, rehabilitation, and recovery.
The remaining 30 percent is set side as Quick Response Fund or stand-by fund for the implementation of disaster relief and recovery programs.
In its 2022 Annual Audit Report, COA said that what the city government did was contrary to the intents and purposes of the QRF.
Special session
Members of the Cebu City Council approved during a special session held on August 12, 2022, the release of the P50 million financial aid that Mayor Michael Rama promised to Abra province, which was hit by a strong earthquake on July 27 of the same year.
Based on government records, actual disbursement of the allocation was made on August 14, 2022.
The financial aid was divided among the different earthquake-hit localities in Abra province.
The city government of Vigan, Candon, San Fernando, Baguio, and Tabuk, each received P3 million while the municipalities of Tayum, Bangued, and Bucay in Abra; Caoayan in Ilocos Sur and Kabayan in Benguet, each got P2 million.
The Province of Abra received the biggest share amounting to P25 million.
“It is the stand of the Audit Team that the charging of said financial assistance under the City’s Quick Response Fund was inappropriate,” COA said in its report.
Other fund sources
Government auditors said that the city government should have looked for other fund sources for its financial aid to Abra and not use its QRF.
“In the present case, the recipient LGUs were the ones which were under the State of Calamity and not Cebu City, thus the CCG (Cebu City government) cannot tap its own QRF for the purpose. Otherwise, there would be no distinction between the disaster response, rehabilitation, and recovery under the 70 percent allocation and the disaster relief and recovery programs under the 30 percent QRF,” COA said.
COA, however, recognized that a supplemental budget was also passed on the same year, which included a P210 million appropriation for disaster management.
Still, government auditors asked city officials to always observe the rules relative to the utilization of the City’s DRRMF to ensure its proper utilization and the city’s preparedness before, during, and after a calamity or disaster may happened within its jurisdiction.
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