The Commission on Audit has revealed that violations of the government procurement law were committed by the provincial government of Davao de Oro when it perfected infrastructure contracts worth P666.84 million without the authority of the provincial legislative council.
The recently-released 2019 annual audit report for the province also showed that government auditors noted a breakdown in the collection and remittance system of the Office of the Provincial Treasurer that resulted in “incurrence of malversation of public funds” amounting to P4,517,493.87.
COA Director Roy Ursal called the attention of the provincial government headed by Gov. Jayvee Tyron Uy to address the audit observations posted recently.
“Contracts for infrastructure projects implemented under the CMGP (Conditional Matching Grant for Provinces) totaling P666.842 million were perfected and entered into without the required authorization of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan contrary to Section 22 © of RA 7160 (Government Procurement Act),” the audit report said.
According to COA, Davao de Oro was among the provinces that received CMGP from the national government to finance road repair, rehabilitation and improvement.
The provincial government identified nine projects to be financed thru the CMGP with a total P777.84 million allocation.
An examination of the contractual documents made by state auditors showed that the deals entered into by the provincial government and the contractors were “not supported with a Sangguniang Panlalawigan” resolution as provided by RA 7160.
“We recommended directing the CMGP-Local Road Management Team to initiate a request to the SP to rectify this error at the soonest possible time,”said COA.
The provincial government admitted the error but stressed that “it was overlooked in good faith”. Officials vowed to comply with the audit recommendation.
In its compliance audit, COA disclosed that there has been a breakdown in the collection and remittance system of the treasurer’s office that resulted in the accumulation of unremitted collection and later the commission of malversation of public funds” reaching P4,517,493.87.
Notwithstanding the irregularity, COA has not recommended the filing of charges against those involved in the alleged fraud.
In the same audit report, COA disclosed that some P894.41 million worth of infrastructure projects implemented by the provincial government contained defects.
Auditors said the defects were caused by “leniency in monitoring and supervision thereby exposing constituents to discomfort, health hazards and affects the durability and strength of structures.” completed.
COA called for the correction of the defects, warning that failure to do so may result “in audit disallowances.”
