STATE auditors questioned the province’s loan grants to 11 cooperatives worth P16.6 million since they were not included in the master list of the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) as of December 2014.
The Commission on Audit (COA) said some of the loan grants date as far back as 2005, 2006 and 2012 but remained unpaid as of the end of last year.
“Henceforth, we recommend that cash transfers be made only to bona fide cooperatives whose eligibility should pass scrutiny by the Bids and Awards Committee as required under COA Circular 2012-001 dated June 14, 2012,” COA said.
The biggest loan of P15.2 million was granted to the Bantayan Island Electric Cooperative followed by the Bogo Mother Seton Multi-Purpose Cooperative with P441,207. The rest of the grants to the other cooperatives range from P300,000 to P20,000.
Sought for comment, Provincial Accountant Ramon Dumayac said the province doesn’t grant loans to cooperatives if they’re not registered with the CDA since it’s required under Capitol rules.
He said the co-ops were registered when they secured the loans only to be dissolved and eventually removed from the CDA master list.
Dumayac said registered cooperatives in the province went down from 70,000 to 24,000.
COA also found out that five other cooperatives, which were found registered in the master list, have not yet paid their loans during the same period of time amounting to P1.7 million.
Another three cooperatives not located within Cebu also have unsettled loans totaling P1.07 million.
Since the receivables have been outstanding for several years already, COA said it’s now “uncertain” if the province can still collect these.