Controversy on Bohol PB expenditures mars session

TAGBILARAN CITY , Philippines  - The latest session of the Bohol Provincial Board erupted with a word war between the presiding officer, Vice Governor Concepcion Lim and at least three PB members, arguing over the operating expenses and gasoline allocation.

The chaotic session started when PB Member Dionisio Balite said he deferred a report of the review committee because his office ran out of bond paper, and then blamed the situation to Lim's alleged control over expenditures of each legislative member's office.

Balite, during recess imposed at the height of word exchanges, accused the vice governor of imposing "unreasonable control" of fund allocation that he said has rendered his office paralyzed.

He said this prompted his employees to borrow bond paper supply from his school, Bohol Institute of Technology just to re-produce the committee report, a copy of which must be furnished to each PB member and the vice governor herself as a matter of policy.

This irked Lim who countered by asking why Balite had to go to his school when her office can provide enough supply if only he asked for it.

Balite's committee takes charge in the review and approval of voluminous municipal and city ordinances necessary for their ratification and implementation. Balite blamed Lim's handling of the expenses has made every PB member "mendicant," which he said he did not like to happen.

Lim admitted she had imposed such control of funds, but she rationalized this as part of her austerity measures that resulted in savings for the PB, hinting that some PB Members' offices may not have been prudent in their expenditures.

Some of Balite's staff members, when called to the session for clarification, explained that even if they make a purchase request, still this could not be granted because Lim's office has not acted upon the annual procurement plan of each PB Member until this time, which is already past the first quarter of the year.

Another PB Member Crispina Vergara, president of the Liga ng mga Barangay, admitted the "centralized" allocation for gasoline has been very strict, and this affected her travel to and from her hometown of Mabini, which is more than a 100 kms. from the city.

She said each PB member is given only four gas slips a week with 19 liters per slip. In separate interviews, other PB members confirmed this, saying this allotment was insufficient considering the distance to their appointments including "social functions" for their offices' representation.

The verbal tussle was heated further when PB Member Godofreda Tirol stood up to insist that she was not amenable to the "centralized" fund allocation because every PB Member's office is "independent" from the vice governor's.

This angered Lim who told the PB members that she had to respond because of what she perceived was an attack against her, noting even that some PB offices have anomalies in overpricing of procured supplies.

Tirol, in an interview later by DyTR radio, Lim's allegations of over-pricing of supplies because a PB member has no control over procuremen, which is subject to bidding by the bids and awards committee.

"We are not subordinate to (Lim), nor are we (her) employees. Don't treat us like that," Tirol warned, adding that her proposed APP submitted to Lim for approval was returned to her but with a lot of corrections or "vandalized."