CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella questioned the Accounting Office for allegedly requiring barangay officials to submit a promissory note before releasing a document for their ensuing fiscal year.
"We beg to question why the City Accounting Office would necessitate the submission of a document in order to issue a certificate of estimates of income when it is the City Treasurer's Office which is primarily tasked with such responsibility under the Local Government Code," Labella's letter read.
The letter, dated October 13, was addressed to City Accounting Office officer-in-charge Arlene Rentuza and to City Treasurer's Office officer-in-charge Tessie Camarillo.
Some barangay officials secured from the city government a certificate of estimates of income for the ensuing fiscal year, but the Accounting Office allegedly required them to submit first a promissory note that they will return the incentives given to them last year.
Labella said some barangay officials appeared before his office and raised the matter to him.
Labella, who is also a lawyer, said that the certificate of estimates of income should be released as per request of barangay officials without any condition, pursuant to the Local Government Code.
Section 271 of the Local Government Code, he said, states that "the share of the barangay must be released directly to the barangay treasurer, is not subject to any lien and must not be held back for any purpose by a higher level government unit or agency of the national government."
"Hence, applying the foregoing, the requirement that the barangay officials concerned first execute a promissory note before the certificate of estimates of income be issued to the barangay respecting their shares in real property tax appears to be a violation of the aforementioned provi-sion," Labella said.
Earlier, the Commission on Audit issued a notice of disallowance to the city government for giving incentives to the barangays last year totaling to P21,513,000.
In his letter, the vice mayor emphasized that the notice of disallowance is currently subject of an appeal before COA. Requiring the barangay officials to come up with a promissory note is an abandonment of the appeal they have filed, he added.
The FREEMAN tried to call Rentuza but calls to her went unanswered.
Camarillo, for her part, said she could not issue any comment on the matter yet as she has to read the letter first.
Last year, the city government distributed P45,000 to each of the 80 barangay captains in the city; P27,000 to each of the 560 barangay councilmen; P18,000 to each of the 80 secretaries; and P18,000 to each of the 80 treasurers. (FREEMAN)