High CoA rating for a change
The Commission on Audit (CoA), in its independent auditor’s report, gave an “unmodified opinion” on the fairness of presentation of the financial statements of the City of Parañaque as of 31 December 2021.
An unmodified opinion means that the financial statements were presented fairly and free from material misstatements.
Theunprecedented achievement of the city under Mayor Edwin Olivarez went through the process of hard work and sacrifices, rewarded by a number of milestones that demonstrated his distinct skill in financial management.
For calendar years 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2013, no audit opinions were rendered by the resident auditors.
For two years, after he assumed office, Mayor Olivarez worked hard to normalize the management of the city’s finances.
In 2015, the silver linings started to appear on the financial statements when the resident auditor rendered a qualified opinion.
It was also at this stage when Mayor Olivarez was reducing the burden on the people’s back, the unsettled huge loan account with the Land Bank of the Philippines, by paying it in installments from January 2014 until its full payment in March 2021.
This was a milestone in his administration, but Mayor Olivarez shunned publicity about it.
It was at this period when the city government has defined its priorities, goals and commitment in the delivery of basic services and promoting the general welfare of the city’s constituents and the general public when unexpectedly came the global menace, the
Covid-19 disease struck to threaten the survival of humanity itself.
The best in men and institutions came out in this time of the worst situation.
The city reacted by utilizing the skills acquired in meeting the requirements in the seal for good local governance competition launched by the Department of the Interior and Local Government.
It paid off in their performance in the areas of good governance: Good financial housekeeping; disaster preparedness; social protection; peace and order; and environment management, among others.
The city government performed splendidly in sharing in the global effort to counter and contain the menace of the global Covid-19 disease.
The Office of the Auditor exhibited distinguished ability and auditorial prowess by assessing how city management performed and utilized its resources during the crises.
For indeed, the City of Parañaque, under CoA guidance, relentlessly fulfilled its commitment toward streamlining and simplifying all systems and procedures toward the promotion of transparency in transactions with the public and the prevention of graft and corruption in government, as mandated by Republic Act 11032, or the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act.
This episode offered by this column intends to demonstrate what could really happen when a diligent and forthright head of a city government like the Honorable Edwin Olivarez combines energy and values with an equally humble, talented and hardworking Resident City State Auditor V, Robert Limcolioc, the first resident city state auditor in Metro Manila to submit his annual audit report for 2021 on Parañaque City, the only city in the National Capital Region accorded by the CoA with the highest audit rating.
“For calendar years 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2013, no audit opinions were rendered by the resident auditors.
In 2015, the silver linings started to appear on the financial statements when the resident auditor rendered a qualified opinion.
On 1 July 2022, a new mayor entered the city, the Honorable Eric Olivarez, a registered nurse, with a Ph.D. in education. He assumed the post with a bang, in a manner that exceptional leaders do, with the likes of Ferdinand Edralin Marcos who in 1975 unexpectedly revamped the entire Philippine bureaucracy by moving out 2,000 slow-moving officials and employees in government to affect an efficient, economical and effective state machinery. The young Eric, given his credential as a consummate educator, a former lawmaker and now implementer of laws showed his courage in running the affairs of the city government along his own vision of good governance with a rigodon of department heads of the city. Mayor Eric Olivarez, the master of rhythm, has his eyes to make Parañaque a premier global city in the great Metropolitan Manila.