The Department of Agriculture (DA) 7 (Central Visayas) is urging local government units (LGUs) with pending unliquidated accounts to submit their liquidation reports to the office before the year ends because the Commission on Audit is bent on running after them.
DA-7 Director Salvador Diputado told concerned LGUs during his recent visit here that his office has received an Audit Observation Memo (AOM) from the Commission on Audit (COA) regarding unliquidated amounts of projects worth millions of pesos in Negros Oriental since 2012.
The COA normally issues AOMs when, during an audit of accounts, operations or transactions, it finds deficiencies or irregular disbursement of government funds, Diputado said.
In case of failure to submit the required documents or information needed to reach an audit decision, a notice of suspension or notice of disallowance may be issued by the auditor, as warranted, after a reevaluation of available documents.
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Diputado said Negros Oriental has a number of cities and municipalities with unliquidated accounts since 2012.
These funds were downloaded by the national government to the region, which, in turn, extended the same to beneficiaries in the province.
He said the projects’ total cost run between PHP40 million and PHP50 million in Negros Oriental, mostly farm-to-market roads.
Among the LGUs mentioned were Dumaguete, Bais City, and Sibulan.
Failure to liquidate these pending accounts would affect the absorptive capacity of the department in implementing projects, which will result in reduction of funding allocations for the region, Diputado said.
He is seeking the help of the mayors concerned to facilitate the submission of their liquidation papers.
Diputado was in Negros Oriental during the conduct of the Buglasan Farm Family Congress held here recently, as part of the Buglasan Festival that ends on October 27. (Juancho Gallarde)
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