Gwen: Cebu hoarding funds

CEBU, Philippines - Former governor now third district Representative Gwendolyn Garcia said Cebu’s wealth is due to the Davide administration “hoarding” the funds.

This was after the Commission on Audit said Cebu is the richest province in the Philippines.

Cebu City, on the other hand, is the sole city in the Visayas which made it to the top 10 list of richest cities in the country, ranking sixth with P7.855 billion in equity.

“It’s a pity that such ‘richness’ has not been translated into much-needed infrastructure projects, health and social services for our barangays and towns suffering from an undeserved ‘El Niño’ of such provincial government assistance. Instead, these funds have been hoarded by this present administration, in the erroneous belief that government is a savings bank,” she said in a text message to the media.

Davide, though, said in response that the basic services in the province are being delivered well despite the savings.

“Wa man ta magtinihik, naa may gipadulngan atong kwarta,” he said.

Garcia’s brother Winston will be challenging Davide for his seat in the 2016 elections.

Cebu Province has the highest equity among the provinces of the country with P28.181 billion, recording an asset of P29.69 billion and liabilities amounting to just P1.5 billion.

Equity is the difference between the amounts of assets and liabilities, which are the major components of a local government unit’s real accounts.

COA also said Cebu was left with P651 million in 2014 after generating an income of P2.76 billion and spending only P2.11 billion.

Governor Hilario Davide III, who learned about the COA’s findings from the media, thanked Cebuanos and his colleagues for the province’s achievement.

He said the audit report only shows the financial soundness of the province, which he attributed to its infrastructures and investments.

Both Cebu City and Cebu Province were earlier recognized as third most competitive highly-urbanized city and province by the National Competitiveness Council.

During the second quarter last year, Capitol already had total assets of P28.7 billion that include, among others, cash (P1 billion), receivables (P302.77 million); and supplies (P57.5 million).

Also included in the province’s assets are investments totaling P188.2 million and P27 billion in properties, plants, and equipment.

On the other hand, the Capitol’s P812-million liabilities covered, among others, payable accounts amounting to P212.3 million, P69 million inter-agency payables (dues to the Bureau of Internal Re-venue, Government Service Insurance System, PAG-IBIG, etcetera), P253.2 million intra-agency payables, and deferred credits of P179.7 million.

COA conducts financial and compliance audits of all local government units to assess their financial conditions, results of operations, propriety of transactions and extent of operational performance.

The audited agencies comprised 80 provinces; 144 cities; 1,490 municipalities and 42,068 barangays across the country.

Next to Cebu Province in terms of wealth were Rizal in Region IV (P6.71 billion), Cavite in Region IV-A (P4.91 billion), Negros Occidental in Region VI (P4.74 billion), and Laguna in Region IV (P4.74 billion).

Other provinces on the top 10 list are Batangas in Region IV (P4.38 billion), Pangasinan in Region I (P4.22 billion), Negros Oriental in Region VII (P3.95 billion), Isabela in Region II (P3.90 billion), and Pampanga in Region III (P3.88 billion).

For the city level, Makati City topped the COA list with an equity amounting to P34.46 billion, followed by Quezon City (P31.91 billion), Pasig City (P20.03billion), Manila City (P13.13 billion), Zamboanga City (P10.46 billion), Cebu City (P7.85 billion), Caloocan City (P6.89 billion), Marikina City (P4.88 billion), Calamba City (P4.69 billion), and Cagayan de Oro City (P4.67 billion).

As to the regions with the biggest equity, the National Capital Region was on top with P137.64 billion, followed by Region VII (P61.73 billion), Region IV-A (Calabarzon, P60.50 billion), Region VI (P31.02 billion), and Region III (P30.27 billion). — Michael Vencynth H. Braga/RHM (FREEMAN)