New office eyed for keeping Mandaue contracts

CEBU, Philippines – After noting many contracts that got either lost or misplaced, a Mandaue City consultant recommended creating a separate office that keeps records of contracts entered into by the city government.

Lawyer Amadeo Seno Jr., who recently reported his accomplishments as consultant on city contracts before the City Council, said that under the Local Government Code, the council is the “depository” of “all documents,” including contracts of the local government unit.

But since some contracts were reportedly lost, the city should have a sub-office under the council that should keep all records, he said.

The idea came up after Councilor Beethoven Andaya asked Seno of his recommendation on what to do with the present problem.

Andaya said there were contracts in the past that “got lost” and nowhere to be found when they were supposed to need them.

Seno, who is a former Mandaue City vice mayor, said “some departments are lousing in record-keeping” and that he has fallen “victim” to this for a number of times.

He said in most cases, the concerned departments have their own copies of the documents that the Sangguniang Panlungsod Archive Section has, but when these same documents are needed later, these departments would go to the SP for its other copy because theirs are either lost or misplaced.

The consultant shared that he recently received a notice of disallowance from the Commission on Audit for his official travel when he was still a vice mayor. He said he had long forwarded his travel documents to the City Hall, but these were not submitted to COA, as the same were lost.

Fortunately, he said, he always keeps his own copies.

To avoid a similar situation in the future, he then recommended to the council to have a sub-office “to keep all the city’s records or if not, then have the city librarian do it.” (FREEMAN)