CEBU, Philippines - Following the pork barrel scam involving bogus foundations benefiting from government funds, the Cebu City council wanted to review the guidelines on financial assistance for non-government organizations and people’s organizations.
â€There is a need to examine and review the guidelines to ensure that the public funds will be received by legitimate NGOs and POs,†Councilor Alvin Dizon said.
The office of Councilor Sisinio Andales was tasked to review the guidelines since the same office accredits beneficiary groups.
The annual appropriation for these groups is P10 million, and the council wanted to make sure that this benefits the very constituents they serve. The review is based on the resolution passed by the City Development Council (CDC) No.05-0621 on June 21, 2013.
CDC asked Andales, who chairs the committee on Cebu City private sector organizations evaluation and monitoring board, to provide the Development Administration Sectoral (DAS) committee with a copy of the flow process for the release of financial assistance.
Moreover, a recent Commission on Audit report cited failure of recipient NGOs and POs to liquidate P76 million worth of financial assistance from 2006 to 2012. FPL (FREEMAN)