P1m for meals, entertainment

A FORMER official of the Cagayan de Oro Water District (COWD) spent nearly P1 million for meals and "official entertainment" in 2009 alone, prompting the audit commission to call the attention of the facility on the way it has been spending its money. Gaspar Gonzales, the COWD general manager at that time, was only allowed to use P22 thousand in discretionary funds and P72 thousand for miscellaneous expenses (EME) in 2009.

But Gonzales overspent by P737,474.92 - his discretionary funds exceeded by P467,637.53 and his extraordinary and miscellaneous expenses exceeded by P269,837.39, according to the 2009 report of the Commission on Audit (COA).

The report stated that Gonzales, who served as COWD general manager up to October 2009, sought reimbursements amounting to P831,474.92 or P489,637.53 charged to discretionary funds and P341,837.39 charged to extraordinary and miscellaneous expenses. Alfredo Reyes, COA director for northern Mindanao, said auditors also found that Gonzales's successor, Engr. Proceso Pag-ong Jr., also spent P69,346.53 in discretionary funds and incurred P86,184.75 in extraordinary and miscellaneous expenses before year-end.

That means that Gonzales and Pag-ong spent a total of P987,006. Some P558,984 was charged to the item on discretionary funds while P428,022 was charged to the item on extraordinary and miscellaneous expenses. Aside from the discretionary funds, and funds for extraordinary and miscellaneous expenses, COWD's general managers also received a P15-thousand allowance a month. These allowances were given without any legal basis, auditors stated.

Reyes said the allowances were in violation of Section 25 of General Appropriations Act (GAA) for 2009 and COA Circular No. 2006-001 dated Jan. 3, 2006.
COA circular No. 2006-001 provides the basis for audit on extraordinary and miscellaneous expenses granted to
certain officials of government. The guidelines:

• The amount of extraordinary and miscellaneous expenses would be the ceiling in the disbursements of funds. Where no such authority is granted in the corporate charter and the authority to grant the extraordinary and miscellaneous expenses is derived from the GAA, the amounts fixed thereunder would be the ceiling in the disbursement.

• Payments of these expenditures would be strictly on non-commutable or reimbursable basis.

• The claim for reimbursement of such expenses would be supported by receipts and/or other documents evidencing disbursements.

Extraordinary and miscellaneous expenses to water district officials are derived from GAA as PD 198 disclosed no provisions for the authority to grant such expenses to other officials of the water districts.
Reyes said that under the categorization or re-categorization of local districts, the heads of water districts or general managers are like government regional directors who are entitled to extraordinary and miscellaneous expenses of P94 thousand a year (P22 thousand for extraordinary and P72 thousand for miscellaneous expenses as provided for under the 2009 General Appropriations Act.

"Our review of transactions from January to December 2009 disclosed that the General Manager was continuously paid on commutable basis a monthly allowance intended for EME at the rate of P15 thousand, which has no legal basis or a total of P150 thousand during the year," Reyes said.
Reyes said the total expenses incurred exceeded by P893,006.20 against the authorized ceiling of P94 thousand.
"The amount of P150 thousand paid on commutable basis and partake a monthly EME allowance, was held without legal basis and is recommended to be disallowed in audit," he said.

source: http://goldstardailynews.com/northern-mindanao--x/3994-p1m-for-meals-entertainment.html