In response to a November 18 report in the Manila Bulletin entitled “COA questions Bacolod’s P1.9 billion unliquidated accounts,” Bacolod City Accountant Ma. Corazon Cardel said they plan on questioning the Commission on Audit (COA) office in the city regarding the matter.

During a press conference yesterday at the Bacolod City Government Center, Cardel said, while they have yet to examine the annual COA audit report, as of December 2017, their records indicate cash advances totalling around P26 million.

However, the said COA report, which was released last week, indicated accounting books among all local government units in Negros Occidental were incomplete, resulting in qualified/modified audit opinions.

COA noted, among the items not reported include nearly P670 million in the Bacolod General Service Office Annual Physical Inventory Report, along with City Accountant’s Office financial statements and subsidiary ledgers amounting to around P730 million.

In addition, the agency also noted the City Accountant’s Office and the City Engineer’s Office reported contrasting construction in progress amounts, with a discrepancy of around P390 million; the lack of reconciliation was later blamed on delays. The former reported over P400 million in projects, while the latter quoted just over P17.5 million.

“We would like also to correct the accumulated accounts,” Cardel stressed. “This does not mean the unliquidated accounts of the city is P1.9 billion.”

She also defended the current city administration, stating, “This is not only for [the] Mayor Evelio Leonardia administration.”/DGB, WDJ