Palace media officer fails to liquidate P1.2 million cash advances

MANILA, Philippines - A Malacañang official failed to liquidate over P1.2 million in cash advances last year, the Commission on Audit (COA) has reported.

However, the unnamed media accreditation and relations officer of the News and Information Bureau (NIB) said her “busy schedule” prevented her from making the liquidation.

Her name was mentioned in the COA report after state auditors inquired as to why the cash advances were not liquidated on time.

COA said under the rules, cash advances must be settled within a prescribed period of 60 days from availment.

“Analysis of the balance of P2,113,318.60 of the account Advances to Officers and Employees as of 31 December 2010, showed that P1,206,339.72 or 57.08 percent was not liquidated in accordance with the provisions of COA Circular No. 97.002,” read the report.

“Cash advances of P445,491.88 were given for local travel on 28 June 2010, while P760,847.84 represented the unexpended balance of the P5.832 million granted for expenses for the implementation of the Special Non-Aligned Movement Ministerial Meeting (SNAMM) held on March 16-18, 2010.” 

State auditors said since local travel had long been undertaken and the SNAMM was already concluded, the travel cash advance should have been liquidated and the unexpended balance of the SNAMM cash advance should have been returned to the collecting officer immediately as required.

“Inquiry with the AO (Accountable Officer) in charge of the SNAMM activity revealed that she was not able to fully liquidate the cash advance due to her busy schedule as Media Accreditation Relations Officer,” the COA report said.

State auditors and management agree with their recommendation to compel the AOs to liquidate their cash advances without further delay.

“We also recommended that management impose the sanctions provided for under COA Circular 97-002 in case of noncompliance,” the COA report said.

The rules provide a valid ground for the withholding of salary of those who fail to liquidate their cash advances within the prescribed period, state auditors said.

The STAR tried to but failed to get the name of the media officer because COA cannot reveal the identity of the person.

The STAR was also told that despite the delay, the cash advances may have already been liquidated by now.

The NIB is an office under the Presidential Communications Operations in the Office of the President.

It is “responsible for providing efficient, effective, productive and economical services relating to the development, formulation and implementation of a domestic and foreign information program for the government in general and the presidency in particular, including the development of strategies for the dissemination of information on specific government programs.”

The NIB has 266 authorized plantilla positions of which 179 were filled up as of Dec. 31, 2010, with 65 contractual personnel hired to augment the agency work force.

Under the NIB are four divisions: the Administrative and Financial Division, the Presidential Press Staff, the Media Accreditation and Relations Division, and the Philippine News Agency.