The Commission on Audit has called the attention of the San Andres municipal government for its continued use of the cash payment system to pay job order workers, which it said worsens the weakness of the LGU’s internal control system.

In its report on the LGU’s 2023 transactions, the audit agency said that an average of 500 job order workers were paid by way of cash payment system, “placing the people’s money to risk of loss or misappropriation and further resulting in possible loss of man-hours and excess in the maximum accountability of the disbursing officers.”

The report stated that verification of the LGU’s current payroll system showed that the municipality still employs the tedious task of manual payroll preparation and paying job order worker’s payrolls in cash.

A sampling of liquidation reports for CY 2023 revealed the LGU paid 5,998 job order workers a total of P32,194,847.96 in cash, with the disbursing officer handing over P2.6 million in cash to an average of 500 JOs every month.

Of the total JO workers hired that year, 3,946 were deployed to the Office of the Mayor, other departments, barangays, schools and other offices while 2,052 were assigned at the Office of the Vice Mayor, Secretary to the Sangguniang Bayan and SB members.

Among the offices with large numbers of JOs were the Office of the Mayor (603), Clean and Green (358), MDRRMO (217), Municipal Eco-Park (206), DSWD (191), Barangays (176), Municipal Agriculture (174), Municipal Accounting Office (112), San Andres West District (111), and Municipal Budget Office (104).

At the Sangguniang Bayan, the number of JOs issued in 2023 were to the following offices and officials: Office of the Vice Mayor (325), Office of the SB Secretary (154), Councilor Rommel Antonio (147), Councilor Felix Romero (156), Councilor Ramiro Noble Jr. (174), Councilor Kevin Sernatinger (152), Councilor Delia Lazaro (146), Councilor Joal Cocjin (138), Councilor Susan Flores (155), Councilor Rio Soliveres (220), Councilor Jinky Garcia (141), Councilor Honesto Lumabi (122) and Councilor Cassandra de Loyola (22, for December only).

Preparation of these voluminous payrolls can put a heavy toll on the DO and may cause delays in the liquidation of cash advances and neglect of important tasks, the team said.

The COA urged the LGU to seriously consider the adoption of the ATM Payroll System which is much safer, precludes possible loss or misappropriation and can promote operational efficiency.

During the exit conference at the municipal hall, the Municipal Treasurer’s Office revealed that it had already suggested to the management that the ATM payroll system be adopted in order to safeguard government funds.

The government watchdog also reported that solid waste in the municipality and its barangays were collected without proper segregation as mandated under RA 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.

It noted that under the 10-year Solid Waste Management Plan of the LGU approved in 2014, the LGU began implementing the policy that same year, with households, business establishments, schools and other institutions providing different garbage bags for biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste materials.

Under the SWMP, non-biodegradable waste are to be delivered to the municipal ecology park for recycling into compost, bio-uling, concrete hollow blocks and recycled plastic products such as traffic cones and flower pots.

However, inspection and interviews conducted by the audit teem showed that mandatory segregation of wastes at source was only “partly participated” by majority of the population, with collected waste materials a mixture of recyclable, non-recyclable and residual wastes.

Concerned job order employees of the MENRO told the team that the collected waste from households were not segregated.

With the MENRO having no funds for the hiring of garbage sorters, the waste were not segregated, increasing the volume of waste for disposal, the report stressed.

In another significant finding, the COA report disclosed the LGU bought two vehicles worth a total of P8.75 million for the Pasada Eskwela Program but were not put into full operation, resulting to the delayed enjoyment of its benefits.

Funded under the 20% Development Fund and General Fund, the two vehicles – a new Isuzu NPR Class 3 Modern Jeep worth P3.95 million and a JAC Ankai Class 3 Modern Jeep worth P4.8 million, were delivered on June 19, 2023.

Under the priority project of the municipality providing free transportation to students from their homes in far-flung barangays to their schools, one of the vehicles was supposed to cater to students of Lictin Integrated School from barangay Caragnag to Rizal area while the other was to be used for ferrying students from San Andres proper to Virac.

However, an ocular inspection by audit team on April 1, 2024 showed that one of the modern jeeps was parked inside the LGU compound and the other was under repair for the aircon.

It attributed the delay in the full operation and utilization of the school buses to several lapses in planning and over-all program or project supervision, as fuel and wages of the driver were not provided in the budget.

On the other hand, an ocular inspection discovered several defects in the multi-million peso San Andres Baywalk Park established by the LGU in barangay Esperanza.

The audit team said the defects may cause further damage to the structure or even loss or wastage of public funds if rectification is not made.

Among the defects noted in the projects Phase III worth P4.99 million were the incomplete painting of steel works in the fabricated fence and cracks on the flooding of the basketball court.

The P4.99-million Phase IV also showed that the installation or laying of precast paver blocks remain unfinished at the time of inspection.

“The aforementioned defects may be attributed to poor workmanship, use of poor-quality materials and non-compliance with the plans and specifications of the contract,” the audit team noted.

It recommended to the local chief executive that the municipal engineer require the contractor to immediately rectify the defects considering that it is within the defects-liability warranty period.

Among the other significant findings in the 2023 audit report were: failure of the LGU to secure certificatyes of titles for five parcels of land, including the public plaza at San Roque, two lots of the municipal nursery at Belmonte, children’s paradise at Salvacion, and the municipal compound itself in San Roque; and, delay in the release of barangay shares from the Real Property Taxes (RPT) collected by the municipality amounting to P621,491.77, depriving the barangays of funds to finance projects and activities.