The Commission of Audit (CoA) on Tuesday sent a notice of suspension letter to the office of Malabon City Mayor Jeannie Sandoval due to the lack of documents backing their December trip to Tokyo, Japan.

This comes after state auditors flagged the incomplete records of the LGU that supported their six-day foreign trip to Tokyo from 17 to 23 December 2023.

State auditors tagged a total of 35 individuals — including Sandoval, city councilors and other municipal staff — saying that they each spent P304,095.32 which accumulated to a total of P10,643,336.20.

It added that in line with Section 9 of Executive Order 77, they are seeking an explanation of the role of every participant who joined the Japan trip and required the local government unit to submit flight itineraries, copies of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) letter of invitation and the travel order within 90 days.

The CoA also pointed out that Sandoval and Vice Mayor Bernard dela Cruz were allegedly responsible for approving the disbursement and certifying that the cash advance was necessary and valid, respectively.

The December trip by the Malabon City officials aimed to adopt the methods of Japan in its urban planning and disaster management system.

“The study that the delegation of Malabon City did on Japan aims to improve the urban planning, disaster management system, and the tourism initiatives of the city,” the Malabon City LGU said in a Facebook post.

The local government unit also mentioned Japan’s topography and the country’s numerous natural calamities that made the city an ideal place to conduct the study.

It added that Atty. Ana Juanito, the city accountant, is currently preparing the answers for the audit findings and other needed documents.

This is not the first time that CoA has noticed the possible misuse of funds by the Malabon City government as last June, it called out Malabon City for a P2.183 billion “unreliable” year-end balance of Cash in Bank due to numerous discrepancies.