The Commission on Audit (CoA) flagged down several activities of the province of Apayao after it noticed deficiencies in its annual audit report of the province.

In the transmittal of the audit report dated April 26, 2018 and signed by Joseph Anacay, CoA regional director, pointed out to Apayao Gov. Elias Bulut Jr. there are six things that he should correct in order for the residents of the province reap the fruits of the projects.

“We are pleased to transmit the annual audit report on the provincial government of Apayao for the calendar year of 2017 in compliance with Section 2, Article IX-D of the Philippine Constitution and Section 43 of Presidential Decree 1445, otherwise known as the Government Auditing Code of the Philippines,” read the audit report.

Anacay explained the audit was conducted in accordance with the Philippine public sector standards on auditing and that it provided reasonable bases for the results of the audit.

“We also believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our unqualified opinion,” the report said.

Auditors indicated in the report the shares from real property taxes, sand and gravel taxes and other local collections of municipalities and barangays totalling P5,796,455.06 were not remitted in accordance with Section 271 (d) of RA 7160 and Section 36 of CoA Circular 92-382 thus, depriving the municipal and barangay government of the immediate utilization of the funds.

The provincial government was told by CoA to assign one of its personnel who will be accountable for the reconciliation and monitoring of shares of other local government units from the real property taxes and sand and gravel collected and the shares should be remitted on time.

The provincial government also has unremitted balance of P817,626.28 that should be remitted as soon as possible.

The lengthy delivery period of purchase orders (POs) amounting to P28,642,987.67 was also affected thereby affecting the purpose to promote economy and efficiency, thus the province was told to devise a method to shorten it.

The auditors also noted various deficiencies on the project issuance of Notice of Award, some 123 projects amounting to P319,326,326.020 were not implemented at year end, depriving the residents of the province the benefits that could have been derived from the immediate use of the said projects which is contrary to Section 17 (b) 3 of RA 7160.

The general service office was ordered to devise strategy in monitoring the approved POs for the immediate service of the same.

Not to be left is the inadequate control in the management of supply and property of the Provincial Disaster Risk Eduction Management Office inventories and equipment totalling P1,014.608 were unpresented and under-utilized.

The donated food supplies valued at P40,209.28 had expired and contaminated resulting in the wastage of government resources contrary to Section 1 and 101 of PD 1445, according to CoA.

The CoA told the provincial government to require the accountable officers of the province to locate, retrieve and account the missing or unpresented items and the expired condition of the food supplies to assign a personnel to monitor the expiry dates and condition of the stockpiles and the upkeep of the store room.

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