Flagrant violations of cash advances – I
Keymen at City Hall railed for much earlier furnishing this paper's beat reporter a copy of the Schedule of Cash Advances (14 pages, fine printed single-spaced) as of March 30, 2007 prepared by the Mandaue City Accounting Office. The total unliquidated cash advances (UCAs) is P19,196,007.66, obviously after the belated refund/liquidation by the previous official family.
Surprisingly, the beat reporter demurred with squeamish excuses against timely running the scoop on the blatant toying with the rules on cash advances. Offhand, the entries reveal that the then ruling family circle and their lackeys had obtained CAs in huge amounts with habituality, and mostly for non-governmental purposes, including trivial excuses to open the treasury vault.
Only after the COA annual post-audit report bannered by The Freeman and the other paper recently, on the previous administration's "Loose Management Cost Mandaue P78 M" that this paper's beat newshen ran a delayed and tamer version on the UCAs
Indeed, so "loose" and topsy-turvy had been the husbandry of the City's finances as if it were just a household "alkansiya" in almost total disregard of pertinent auditing laws and regulations. There had neither been a follow-up nor a follow through on whosoever dipped into the family-like kitty, and/or even a spartan attempt to spank the naughty ones with nimble fingers.
Obviously, this validates the perception of undue bias and lack of objectivity which is repulsive to and against the grain of TF's touted "Fair and Fearless" motto.
Another paper's August 2 banner story on Mandaue's UCAs: "Left by Ouano Relatives Unliquidated P600T Cash", ran its subhead: "COA auditors note violation of audit regulations". It went on listing the UCAs left by the family patriarch and several family members down to the grandson. Not mentioned were the kilometric cash advances belatedly refunded/liquidated only in late May and late June 2007, including the P62 M of one lady member, and about P10 M incurred by some 15 subalterns in City Hall.
Protruding askew like a sore thumb was that the much bigger and biggest amounts of cash advances were for non-governmental function, such as, "Lakbay Aral ASEAN Summit", Charter Day/Mantawi/Founding Day celebrations, sports, fellowship dinner, socio-cultural activities, and similar festivities that were extra-governmental activities.
A perusal of the subject Schedule of Cash Advances shows that these UCAs as of
Further shocking, nay, stunning the taxpayers' sensibilities was the propensity of the over-spending magnitude, as well as, the ease and laxity in applying the brakes, if at all, for sanity's sake. For instance, one leading department head had a Christmas party cash advance of P500,000; another P772,000 for charter day celebration, still another P695,000 of a toady for the launching of a convention; P1.7 M for sports activities; and P700,000 for founding day shindig. Capping the orgies of overspending were the P2.84 M for an innocuous vine festival as an excuse and P485,000 for "nightly activities". Wow, these orgy samplers put to pale the "bacchanalia of extravagance" in Greek mythology for Bacchus, the god of revelry.
Never before in the history of Mandaue had there been such monstrous wastrel of public funds by the mere expedient flirtations of cash advances! (To be continued)
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