CoA orders Nueva Vizcaya to liquidate P34.7M funds

By Ted Boehnert

01/04/2009

Nearly P35 million in cash advances and other expenditures of the Nueva Vizcaya government remain unliquidated, the Commission on Audit (CoA) said in a recent report, a copy of which it provided the provincial government.

The CoA in its recommendation to the provincial government ordered it to clear the unliquidated amount of P34,722,461.73 and have those responsible for it to start paying back part of the amount.

In response, provincial treasurer Perfecto Martinez Jr. explained that some of the unliquidated amounts date back to the term of the late Gov. Patricio Dumlao Sr.

“Only a minimal amount of these cash advances date from the beginning of Gov. Luisa Lloren Cuaresma’s term in 2004,” he said.

Martinez, meanwhile, said the provincial government was doing everything to address the issue of the cash advances, especially those incurred by heads of office in the provincial government.

“Gov. Cuaresma has ordered that chiefs of office at least start paying their outstanding cash advances on an installment basis because she doesn’t want the money of the provincial government intended for the people to go to waste,” he added.

The CoA report also ordered the provincial government to stop the issuance of honoraria to members of the local school board and the local finance committee and, if possible, to have the members return P497,750 in honoraria already received.

The CoA also noted that P6,555,241.90 in cash advances made by contractors as far back as more than a decade and a half ago have not yet been paid back.

The agency also said a demand letter should be given to the said contractors with outstanding balances.

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