(With the partial COA report on transactions at the Catanduanes State University as well as this article, the Tribune resumes its series of articles on audit reports covering local government units and select agencies.)
Paid payrolls and salaries in 2022 of elected and appointed officials of Bagamanoc, as well as casual employees, were not supported with Daily Time Records (DTRs) and other supporting documents, the Commission on Audit reported last year.
The audit team said that the submitted paid payrolls for the period January to August 2022 for the salaries of appointed personnel were not attached with approved DTRs while copies of minutes of the monthly sessions of the Sangguniang Bayan (SB) were not furnished to the team for validation of attendance to sessions of the SB members.
The total salaries paid to the concerned officials with lacking supporting documents amounted to over P9 million, the report said.
“Due to the lack of DTRs, it was not determined whether the LGU personnel had actually rendered services and the period of such services. In addition, due to unavailability of the minutes of SB sessions, it was not determined whether the elected officials have actually attended the sessions…affecting the propriety of the payment of salaries…,” it added.
The team likewise noted other deficiencies: 73 DTRs indicated the concerned employees were on travel but same could not be validated for lack of approved Travel Order; 30 DTRs indicated that the employees were on leave but were not attached with approved Application for Leave; 77 DTRs were not certified by the head of office; salaries of some SB members were received by SB member Mark Anthony Pascua without written authority issued by the payees; Biometric DTRs of the Municipal Budget Officer for July to December 2022 did not match against the payroll as to place of work assignment; and some employees prepared DTRs manually while others resorted to Biometrics.
On the other hand, it found that eight employees had monthly net take-home pay of less than P5,000 in violation of Sec. 55 of the General Appropriations Act.
At the treasurer’s office, the auditors discovered that the collecting officers were not able to prepare the Report of Collections and Deposits (RCD) on a daily basis.
Instead, the COA said, the COs prepared the RCDs on the same date the accumulated collections were remitted to the municipal treasurer.
“It resulted to inaccurate reporting or presentation of the daily and monthly accountabilities of the COs,” the team stated, while the collected monies which accumulated in the hands of the COs had exposed LGU funds to risk of possible loss or misappropriation.
The other significant findings of the audit included the following: non-submission of 308 Job Order contracts and 14 Contracts of Service to the audit team within five (5) days after its execution; and “very low” implementation on major funded Programs, Projects and Activities (PPAs) under the 20% Development Fund, due to the change in administration and lack of proper planning.