COA asks Bogo City to use excess funds

The Commission on Audit has asked the Bogo City government to utilize the excess of the loan proceeds in the construction of the New City Hall amounting to P10.9 million and the unutilized disaster fund of P55 million.

In its 2016 audit report, COA found out that the city has no approved identified projects or programs of works for the utilization of the said amount.

The City of Bogo entered into two loan agreements with the Development Bank of the Philippines to finance the construction of the New City Hall located in Barangay Cayang for the total amount of P192.3 million.

The total amount of loan proceeds the city had already been received from the two loan agreements is P177.2 million.

COA said that as of December 31, 2016, the audit revealed that P5.1 million out of the P177.2 million was left unused.

The city received the final release of the loan proceeds from the second loan on January 6, 2017 in the amount of P11.9 million.

There are identified projects in the second loan that are still ongoing which include additional landscaping and asphalting of main access road in the amount of P6.1 million.

COA said the total amount of P11.9 million was still available for use at the time of the writing of the audit report.

“The non-utilization of the loan proceeds is disadvantageous to the City as it is continuously paying interest and other related fees to the bank. Further, the constituents of the City are deprived of services that can be rendered has this amount been used,” read the audit report.

The city government has committed to propose priority projects to use the excess of the loans after the project have been fully implemented.

The new building which costs P250 million was opened on April 15, 2013 but typhoon Yolanda devastated it on November 8, 2013.

Meanwhile, COA also asked the Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office of Bogo City to formulate programs and activities for the unutilized LDRRM Fund of previous years.

The LDRRM Plan was already forwarded to the Sangguniang Panlungsod for resolution.