City Council asks COA to submit audit results of CCMC's finances

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City Council will ask today the Commission on Audit (COA) to give them the audit results of all financial transactions entered into by the Cebu City Medical Center within the past three years.

Councilor Jose Daluz III, chairman of the committee on budget and finance, has sponsored a resolution asking the city attorney’s office to speed up their investigation into the questionable release of PhilHealth checks to a suspected member of a swindling syndicate.

The resolution will be discussed in today’s regular session.

In his resolution, Daluz also ask the treasurer’s office to submit its recommendations on how to prevent the occurrence of similar irregularity in the city-run hospital.

At least 28 checks amounting to P240,000 issued by PhilHealth as payments to the city hospital were earlier released by Lourdes Archua to a suspected swindler who identified herself as Concha Ruth Adlawan.

Archua was already placed under preventive suspension pending investigation. Archua, however, denied releasing the checks and pointed to a certain Mary Grace Lopez, a city treasurer employee detailed at the CCMC, as the one responsible.

On the other hand Daluz has asked the PhilHealth-Cebu branch officials to furnish the City Council with the certified true copies of all the returned PhilHealth checks issued to CCMC from year 2007.

Daluz also asked the PhilHealth officials to submit the list of patients for whose accounts the checks were paid for and other information about the missing checks. — THE FREEMAN