BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
ILOILO City – The supplier of district hospital equipment and medicines dragged in the alleged vouchers scam has protested Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr.’s order suspending payment for it, pending the result of the investigation he ordered.
In a letter sent to the governor, Diomar Trading operations manager Consuelo Del Castillo asked the governor “to reconsider the decision of penalizing our company with suspensions of payments and awards of contract.”
The investigation is still being conducted, wrote Del Castillo, thus there was no due process in the governor’s order.
“Indi na ko magsapak sinang ila nga sulat (I am ignoring their letter),” said Defensor.
He considered the letter a “pre-empted tactic” to clear Diomar Trading in the alleged scam.
Del Castillo denied that Diomar Trading had knowledge of the tampering of vouchers.
The letter appeared to insinuate that the provincial capitol’s accounting office may have had lapses.
“Per our records, as evidenced by past vouchers, correcting entries in the disbursement vouchers was already a practice of the accounting department of the province since 2012 and 2013, specifically for changes arising from adjustments due to the retention fee which were validly documented,” said Del Castillo.
The alleged falsification of vouchers covered P1.65-million worth of transactions. The provincial government was supposed to pay only P1,482,034.27 for the hospital supplies and equipment it ordered but the Provincial Treasurer’s Office issued a check more than the amount due – P1,652,379.48 – resulting to a loss of P170,345.21.
It was during the encoding of the paid vouchers to Diomar Trading that erasures were noticed, according to Provincial Accountant Lyd Tupas.
The deductions for the retention money were substituted with surety bond resulting to higher net amount due to the supplier.
Del Castillo explained that the alteration was due to the 10-percent retention which was added back to the voucher amount upon their submission of the surety bond.
“We believe we should not be punished for the possible negligence of the accounting department since reviewing the entries in the vouchers is the responsibility of the provincial accountant,” said Del Castillo.
Explaining the process involved, Del Castillo said that prior to the release of a check to the supplier, it is returned to the accounting department for the issuance of an “advice” to the bank.
“If the Chief, Accounting Department, believed that there was something wrong with the vouchers, he should not have released the advice and the check when it noted the alterations. He is a signatory to the advice and this passes through the review of several persons before the checks are released,” Castillo added.
Defensor said the “full-blown” investigation he ordered starts on Monday and will be conducted by three provincial legal officers with Atty. Dominador Tersol as consultant.
“The amount involved is not that big (but we are talking here of) falsification and dishonesty,” Defensor said./PN
