Cebu officials owe P.5 M to government

CEBU CITY — Unliquidated cash advances are apparently not just a City Hall problem – the Capitol has it too.

Yesterday, the provincial accounting office reported that more than half-a-million pesos in cash advances by past and present officials remain unliquidated.

The unliquidated advances go back to 1981 with at least one official owing the Capitol money already dead. Then Gov. Osmundo Rama reportedly had an unliquidated advance of P6,000.

Apparently, the past official who incurred the biggest amount of unliquidated cash advances was former Gov. Vicente de la Serna with advances amounting to P296,000 taken from the provincial intelligence fund.

Incumbent Gov. Pablo Garcia himself has unliquidated advances amounting to P62,000 from 1995 to 1997.

Garcia said he is now in the process of liquidating the amount. — Freeman News Service