College president suspended

State auditors discovered that P10.6M in collected school fees were not remitted to Talisay City

When asked to explain, Tomas Ramos ‘showed the board pictures of projects where the money was allegedly spent’ without expense documents

A 30-DAY preventive suspension order was issued against Talisay City College (TCC) president Tomas Ramos after more than P10 million worth of fees collected from the school were allegedly not remitted to the City Government.

In a letter issued last May 24, Mayor Socrates Fernandez ordered Ramos’s suspension last Monday yet, based on the audit observation memorandum issued by the Commission on Audit (COA).

Councilor-elect Dennis Basillote also confirmed that the TCC’s board of trustees (BOT) issued a resolution supporting Ramos’ suspension while an investigation will be conducted on the COA’s findings.

While Ramos was not available for interview yesterday, TCC’s acting president Edgar Martinez told Sun.Star Cebu that Ramos has submitted his reply to the allegations to the state auditors.

4-year period

State auditors discovered that P10,553,270 in school fees were collected between 2004 and 2008. However, these were not remitted to the city treasurer’s office.

Fernandez, in his letter, ordered Ramos to account for the missing P10.6 million. He also ordered the school to stop collecting fees without issuing the required official receipts and prior approval from the BOT. He also ordered Ramos to strictly follow disbursement procedures and to stop the practice of using collections in payment.

In an interview with reporters yesterday, Basillote confirmed that the BOT issued a resolution to suspend Ramos. Basillote, along with Fernandez, are members of the BOT.

Basillote said Ramos was made to explain about the non-remittance of the collections. But Ramos reportedly only showed the board pictures of projects where the money was allegedly spent without presenting documents of expenditures to prove these.

Violations

Meanwhile, Martinez said Ramos submitted his reply to the COA.

Martinez said that as of now, they are focusing on trying to prepare for the opening of the new school year on June 10.

State auditors Ma. Daisy Bercede and supervising auditor Delia Monte de Ramos found that the school, led by Ramos, violated Sections 15 and 30 of the New Government Accounting System Manual for Local Government Units Volume 1.

The collections also did not have the BOT’s approval.

The amount included unremitted entrance/examination fees, insurance membership fees, development fees, assessment fees, Licensure Examination for Teachers review fees, graduation fees and payment for transcript of records, among others.