HUMAN consideration is always associated with or synonymous to compassion, empathy or kindness. I am a believer of that. But turning human consideration into a wrongdoing is, perhaps, another story.
This week, while navigating online stories and government reports and releases, I encountered a COA (Commission on Audit) report that caught my attention.
It was from COA Region 6 and about a Biennium Audit Report on the Dueñas Water District (DWD) in Dueñas, Iloilo for 2021 and 2022.
Dueñas is a fourth class municipality and DWD is a small water district relying on three deep wells for just over a thousand concessionaires.
What’s the content of the COA Biennium Audit Report released on June 7, 2023 but was made public on website just recently?
7 LAPSES
Let me enumerate the seven lapses, per audit observation report signed by Marilou Rizarri, director of COA Region 6. These are the following:
* inconsistent balance in the ledgers
* no book record on loan payment to the Local Water UtilitIESy Administration (LWUA)
* Interest Payment Account (IPA) not in agreement with LWUA
* Non-Revenue Rate (NRR) due to leakage not compliant with LWUA Resolution No. 444-2009
* not depositing daily collections to the bank
* practice granting of cash advances due to humanitarian consideration
* not collecting account receivables for two years
PECULIARITIES
According to COA, the DWD General Ledger and Customer Ledgers showed inconsistent balance of P305,511.43 in 2021 and P300,311.03 in 2022, thus the accuracy and reliability of an account balance cannot be ascertained.
The state audit bureau also flagged DWD regarding the penalties they are paying for their loan from LWUA amounting to P299,930 per month that were not recorded in the book, contrary to Section 119 of Presidential Decree (PD) No. 1445, or the Government Auditing Code of the Philippines.
The water district IPA ain’t in agreement with LWUA, too.
Due to leakage, DWD’s annual NRR COA reached 27.28% in 2021 and 29.04% in 2022, which were not compliant with LWUA Resolution No. 444-2009, thus, resulting in the forgone revenues of P136,133.83 and P239,387.94 in 2021 and 2022, respectively.
RISKS OF MISUSE
Moreover, COA discovered that DWD does not deposit its daily collections, thereby, exposing government funds to risks of misuse or misappropriation.
In response, DWD told COA it seemed “impractical” to follow proper procedures of depositing cash intact and issue checks for disbursement later.
Really?
COA also noted that the water firm practiced granting cash advances to personnel and members of the Board without legal basis except for humanitarian consideration.
Quite an absurdity in the strongest term, right?
But the management explained to COA that the cash advances were usually granted as borrowings for personal purposes of the personnel which they returned after a certain period, otherwise, it would be charged against their compensation.
Really?
But COA noted there were no deductions made in the salaries of personnel even if the period they promised to return the money have lapsed.
Too, according to COA, the water district was unable to collect its account receivables of P1.345 million and P1.348 in 2021 and 2022, respectively.
Worse, there was this thing as P162,373.62 which COA noted as disallowances.
SCIENCE OF PEOPLE
DWD is a government-owned and -controlled corporation (GOCC). Hence, it is ought to follow basic government accounting rules and procedures in the spirit of accountability.
To give emphasis on cash advances due to humanitarian consideration, this particular matter could be done on special scenarios, perhaps on matters of life and death.
DWD is neither a lending institution nor a sari-sari store. COA is right that any cash advances must have legal basis, and money should be returned on the specified date of promise.
Human consideration is a science of people grounded on understanding for every situation. But such must be fenced when you are in government.
Such a kind of science is no longer beneficial when COA rules based on its instituted accounting procedures, else you will find yourself in trouble.
I hope that this COA Biennium Report for 2021 to 2022 will serve as an awakening point for the DWD management. Turning human consideration into a wrongdoing is the greatest blunder one could commit beyond forgiveness of the law./PN
