Cagayan de Oro gov’t delayed release of brgy shares –COA

September 26, 2008

By Lizanilla J. Amarga

The City Government of Cagayan de Oro has been found dragging its feet when it comes to releasing the shares of its 80 barangays resulting to delay in the implementation of barangay projects, state auditors reported.

In its Annual Audit Report 2007, the Commission on Audit (COA) said the remittances of barangay shares from Real Property Tax (RPT) were found delayed by 10 to 181 days which resulted in the accumulated balance of P47,289,288.16 as of year end.

The auditors said this delay is contrary to provisions of Section 271(d) of RA 7160 or the Local Government Code of 1991 which provides that the “share of each barangay shall be released without need of any further action, directly to the barangay treasurer on a quarterly basis five (5) days after the end of each quarter, and shall not be subject to any lien or holdback for whatever purpose.”

COA State Auditor Olivia Flores, the team leader, said their audit of the account “Due to LGUs” in the Trust Fund showed that the amount of RPT share accruing to 80 barangays amounting to P47,289,288.16 remain undistributed as of December 31, 2007.

She said analysis of the above account also revealed that release of RPT share to the barangays were not done on a quarterly basis but instead on staggered basis or about 10 to 181 days delayed which resulted in the substantial balance of the account.

Flores said review of remittances made during the year showed that as of the January 1, 2006 beginning balance of P36,094,442.68 undistributed, only P16,848,516.09 or 47 percent was released to the barangays.

“The untimely release of these shares may cause undue delay in the implementation of barangays’ priority projects as well as in the delivery of other basic services to its constituents,” she said.

Flores quoted the City Government as telling the state auditors that it has been monitoring the remittances of barangay share and that the delay in the preparation of summary by barangay is caused by the system which is manually generated.

City Hall also reasoned out that, while it may be possible to use directly data from the City Finance Department which is already computerized and can be summarized by barangay by monthly share, the basis of the remittance is the actual share prepared manually by barangay and thus, will take time to be completed.

Flores said City Hall also told state auditors that, at other times the incapacity of the City Accounting Department is also attributed to the delay in the submission of report of collections and deposits.

She said City Mayor Constantino Jaraula has now ordered on a deeper study on the system to hasten the recording of the share of each barangay and thus facilitate the release of the share of the same within a reasonable time.

She added that Jaraula has also instructed the City Accountant and the City Treasurer to come up with a system so that the said share of the barangays be remitted within reasonable time.

Written by admin · Filed Under Cagayan de Oro