Retards in the Government 216

It's your weekly compendium of foolishness and corruption in the Philippine government.

https://www.philstar.com/nation/2021/07/16/2112793/pangasinan-village-chief-shot-dead

A barangay captain in this province was gunned down before midnight yesterday, the second attack on a village chief in this province this month. 

Frederick Abalos of Barangay Balococ in this town was in a tricycle on his way home when he was shot by unidentified motorcyle-riding men. 

Abalos was taken to the Lingayen District Hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival.

The tricycle driver was unhurt. 

On July 3, barangay captain Eleseo Eslao of Talogtog in Laoac was shot dead on his way home from the barangay hall.

Two barangay captains in one town gunned down in a month!! The PNP says they are probing a person of interest in this particular slaying.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1460898/coast-guard-flagged-for-p-1-3-b-unfinished-projects

State auditors have flagged the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) for not terminating 89 unimplemented or uncompleted projects worth P1.359 billion, and for not imposing sanctions on their contractors.

The Commission on Audit (COA) noted that contractors in 14 projects were granted P8.58 million in advance payments even if the projects were still not implemented at end-2020.

“The failure to terminate, blacklist the erring contractors, impose liquidated damages and recover the advance payments from contractors due to lack of adequate control mechanisms in project monitoring deprived the public of the benefits that could have been derived from the immediate and maximum use of the said projects and could lead to loss and wastage of government funds,” a 2020 audit report on the PCG said.

The COA found that 60 projects worth P798.01 million were supposed to have been implemented from 2014 to 2020, but have remained unimplemented as of end-2020.

These projects include the construction of lighthouses, coast guard stations and radar stations across the country; the overhauling of engines and retrofitting of PCG ships; and the purchase of communication equipment, rubber boats, buoys and reflective panel boards.

Another 29 infrastructure projects worth P560.84 million were not completed or were still ongoing at the end of last year, even if the projects were due for completion from 2014 to 2020.

These are the construction and installation of perimeter fence and light; construction of lighthouses; construction and installation of generator set pad and wirings; construction of coast guard stations; and repair of PCG ships.

Despite the noncompletion of the projects, the PCG did not initiate legal proceedings to terminate the contracts.

No penalties and liquidated damages were meted out on erring contractors, contrary to Republic Act No. 9184, or the Government Procurement Reform Act’s implementing rules and regulations.

In addition, a contractor was still allowed to submit bid offers and was awarded five projects in 2018. This was despite its failure to complete five projects for the construction of lighthouses, which were due for completion from May to August 2014.

The PCG, instead of penalizing or blacklisting the contractor for the noncompletion of the projects, “awarded more projects to said contractor.” 

The Coast Guard failed to complete or being 89 projects since 2014 and they did not impose sanctions on the contractors involved. In one case they actually awarded one contractor 5 projects delisted his noncompletion of previous projects.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1147582

Police and environment personnel arrested a policeman and two other minors after being caught in possession of illegally hunted bats in a village here over the weekend.

Capt. Abdulsalam Mamalinta Jr., acting chief of city police Station 4, identified the suspects as S/Sgt. Ibañez Faldas, 33, a member of Polomolok municipal police station in South Cotabato, and aliases Kyle, 17, and Carlo, 15.

He said the three were found with 59 heads of large flying fox (Pteropus vampyrus) in an enforcement operation led by personnel from the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) around 2 p.m. Sunday in Purok Guadalupe, Barangay Conel.

Mamalinta said the illegal activity was discovered by CENRO personnel based on a tip from concerned residents.

He said the agency, through its head Elvira Lumayag, immediately coordinated the matter with their station and confirmed the presence of the suspects.

Aside from the large flying foxes, which is considered as among the critical fruit bat species, he said they confiscated from the suspects a 12-gauge shotgun without serial number and six assorted motorcycle units.

A cop was caught with two minors doing illegal hunting.

https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/389665/coa-to-cebu-city-mayor-correct-delegation-of-authority

The Commission on Audit (COA) has recommended to Mayor Edgardo Labella to correct the delegation of duties in his administration. 

This after the COA found out that the mayor has authorized the City Administrator to sign disbursement vouchers, payrolls, purchase requests, and other official documents without imposing limitations as to the extent and scope of this authority. 

The state audit reminds the city government that this is contrary to the National Guidelines on Internal Control Systems and pertinent Government Accounting and Auditing Manual (GAAD) Volume III, thereby creating a risk that the City can enter into a transaction without the knowledge of the local chief executive and ambiguous accountability on the City’s financial affairs. 

COA noticed that disbursements of vouchers, purchase requests, purchase orders, cheques, obligations, requests and statuses were signed by the City Administrator Floro Casas, Jr., instead of Mayor Labella. 

COA found out that in 2020, disbursement of P25,000,000 was signed mostly by Casas, inferring that the authority and responsibility for these documents were not signed by the City Mayor but by the City Administrator. 

“This is a manifestation of weakness of the City’s Internal Control System that could give rise to different risks. The risk where the City Administrator can enter into a transaction without the knowledge of the City Mayor is very apparent. Likewise, the risk of having ambiguous accountability could occur because of their shared powers and functions. Consequently, the determination of accountability between the two persons can be difficult,” said COA.

The COA has pointed out that the Cebu is facing a potentially risky situation as the Mayor has illegally delegated responsibilities to the City Administrator that should be his.