“Think before you click” — the cardinal rule of social media that Ormoc City learned the hard way.
Earlier this month, the Commission on Audit (COA) raised questions on the whereabouts of several donations that were turned over to the city government and posted on their social media pages. However, these donations from various groups were allegedly totally vanished from sight.
This post was the basis of the COA as they pointed out the proper deliveries by donors and acknowledgment by city officials.
Among the alleged missing donations were 200 sacks of rice (25 kgs per sack) and 150 boxes of 1L bottled water from the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) on January 12, 2022; 12 tablets (brand not disclosed) from the National Housing Authority (NHA), January 2022; 46 wheelchairs from PITMASTER Foundation (Providing Indigent Timely Medical Assistance Service and Targeted Emergency Relief), March 2022; 3 sets of weighing scales from Ajinomoto, August 2022; 1,000 white T-shirts from Panda City Merchandise, Inc. owner James Sy, February 2022, and trash bins from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources – Environmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB) Region 8, March 2022.
“Query with the Accounting Office revealed that it was not aware of the in-kind donations received by the City as posted on Facebook, thus, no accounting entries were made for its recognition and neither distribution sheets on file with their office,” the audit team said.
Clearing allegations
With regards to the missing sacks of rice, he City General Services Office (CGSO) said the 200 sacks of rice and bottled water intended for victims of Typhoon Odette were not turned over to it but to the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO) who then clarified that the relief goods were merely placed there but immediately transported to Southern Leyte, since that place was determined to be more gravely devastated by the typhoon Odette.
Upon verification, the “misunderstanding” was due to the post with a caption of “NGCP’s way to further provide assistance to the City Government of Ormoc in the relief operations.”
In the report submitted to COA, the management clarified that the relief goods received by the City Government of Ormoc from NGCP, as posted on the Facebook page, were not actually intended for the city and were just passed for stocking in the city bodega.
For assurance, the auditing office tasked the CGSO to come up with distribution lists from departments responsible for receiving the in-kind donations.
Not missing
Meanwhile, former Ormoc City Mayor and current Leyte 4th District Rep. Richard Gomez said that the recent news reports on the allegedly “missing” in-kind donations to Ormoc City are part of an Audit Observation Memorandum (AOM) released by the COA.
Gomez said that an AOM is an audit finding that a local government unit (LGU) or any office or agency being audited has to explain, if so required by the COA and cannot be considered as irregular if a comment has been submitted and no adverse conclusion is made.
“In the first place, there could not have been any adverse conclusion because nothing irregular really happened,” he added.
He said the fact that the city government posted the donations on its official social media platforms is in keeping is a part of being transparent and accountable to the public.
“The malicious news reports insinuating irregularities in these transactions is not only an affront to the donors of these in-kind relief assistance but the city government of Ormoc, which was simply looking out for the welfare of the people of Leyte,” Gomez said.