It would be six months before the Commission on Audit (COA) order requiring the Cebu City government to return P800 million it disbursed to 81 barangays becomes final and executory which means they either comply or face sanctions.
That doesn’t seem to bother Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama who vows to fight the COA order while Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella said the COA made a mistake when it failed to issue them an Audit Observation Memorandum (AOM) at the outset before issuing the Notice of Disallowance.
The COA mistake is procedural as is the case with Cebu City Hall. COA pointed out that the city government failed to follow procedure in releasing funding to the barangays when it failed to require the barangays to present their list of plans for projects and secure approval from the City Council based on a city ordinance.
City Hall’s argument stemmed from a previous Supreme Court ruling issued against former Cebu governor Gwendolyn Garcia who failed to secure approval from the Provincial Board for funding of infrastructure projects.
But City Legal Officer Jerone Castillo said the cash aid given to the barangays which amounted to more than half a billion pesos wasn’t used for infrastructure projects and the project requirements and descriptions were already stated in the city’s appropriation ordinance.
Though that’s not the case for all barangay chiefs; Cambinicot barangay chairman Rey Lauron said he will use the remaining P8 million for infrastructure projects which he didn’t specify as well as educational and health programs.
By the time the disallowance becomes final and executory most if not all of the cash aid given to the barangays may have already been spent. By that time, what will COA do? Order all barangay officials and Rama to reimburse the amount in full? Likely they will contest that COA ruling in court where it will be tied up in the dockets until kingdom come.
Rama’s P800-million disallowance case isn’t unique; his predecessor and former mentor Tomas Osmeña was also generous with his allies like former Guadalupe barangay chairman Eugenio Faelnar who was later slapped with assorted corruption cases for overpricing projects and favoring contractors.
While waiting for the Rama administration’s reply to the COA disallowance, we have the elections to wait on and regardless of the outcome the next set of leaders will have to deal with the ruling on their own.
If anything, the COA needs to team up with the Ombudsman to crack down on irregular, questionable local government spending and keep our local officials honest.