BY CHRYSEE G. SAMILLANO
Bacolod Councilor Wilson Gamboa Jr. said he will request for a detailed breakdown report of the amount disbursed by the city government under special cash advances from the Bayanihan grant of P119,198,771.
This involves the amount of P38.5 million; P15 million and P3, million respectively for a total of P56.5 million in special cash advances, Gamboa said in a press release yesterday.
A report on the expenditures and balances left of the Bayanihan grant of P119 million as of September 30, was furnished by City Accountant Ma. Corazon Cardel, City Budget Officer Maria Imelda Williams, and City Treasurer Giovanni Balalilhe to the SangguniangPanlungsod during its virtual session Wednesday.
Gamboa said a liquidation report is supposed to present in exact figures detailing reasonable expenses incurred, cash equivalent spent to cover said expenses, corresponding items or merchandise purchased and complete data of suppliers existence and location.
In other words, what is needed for the SangguniangPanglunsod’s perusal is a “detailed breakdown” provided in the liquidation report, where itemized list of programs and suppliers are listed with the number of units and cost are accurately indicated and not just a “general lump sum” reporting, he said.
Gamboa claimed that what was submitted to them Wednesday was a financial “list” that cannot achieve anything at all, in terms of, decision making analysis and final data-based decisions, it is useless as an evaluation tool and therefore no strategy can be formulated for the people’s health, well-being and survival from the dreaded COVID-19 infection from such a list.
He said Loben Ceballos of the City Engineer’s Office submitted a progress report about quarantine and isolation facilities. But both are different and should not be confused and conceptually interchanged.
As early as April, he had strongly urged the city to construct said medical isolation facility to improve its critical utility rate and thus save lives especially among the indigents and also decongest private hospitals from overcrowding.*
