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Municipality of Guiuan 04102024

Victoria Tulad

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1712721726212353832964_587926336804141_4476046755009130469_n.jpeg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Municipality of Guiuan, Eastern Samar. Facebook"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left"><span contenteditable="true" id="isPasted">Municipality of Guiuan, Eastern Samar. Facebook</span></span></span></span></div><div><br/></div><p>MANILA — An “honest mistake” was how the municipality of Guiuan, Eastern Samar described its overspending <span id="isPasted" style="color:rgb(65, 65, 65);letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:left;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;display:inline !important;float:none">by the millions </span>under the Extraordinary and Miscellaneous Expenses (EME) in 2023. </p><p>According to a Commission on Audit (COA) Annual Audit Report, the municipality spent P6.56 million on EME when the cap was only P26,465.</p><p>As stated in Republic Act 7160 or the Local Government Code of 1991, “the annual appropriations for discretionary purposes of the local chief executive shall not exceed two percent (2%) of the actual receipts derived from basic real property tax in the next preceding calendar year.”</p><p>Since the 2021 Real Property Tax amounted to P1.32 million, the ceiling for the discretionary fund or EME for 2023 should only be P26,465.</p><p>COA noted that the municipality did not take into the account the said limitation. It also found that the budget was used for various offices when it should have only been for the Office of the Municipal Mayor.</p><p>The Municipal Investment and Tourism Office, for example, received P1.33 million, the second largest allocation next to the Mayor’s budget of P2.61 million. The Office of the Vice Mayor and Sangguniang Bayan followed with P500,000 each.</p><p>“All expenses charged to the EME account are purely end-user department related trainings and seminars mostly for catering services and none were related to discretionary expenses,” the report pointed out.</p><p>It said “the Municipal Accountant explained that the Municipality committed an honest error in assuming that the EME account was a misnomer for the Other Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses account, hence the considerable amount of appropriations for EME that is included in the approved budget of the Municipality.”</p><p>COA recommended that the Municipal Budget Officer limit the allocation of EME to the Mayor’s Office and to comply with the two percent limit.</p><p>The Budget Officer had committed to COA to not allocate any amount in this year’s budget “to any department unless management will have a clear intention of using the budget to a discretionary one and the situation warrants the use of the account.”</p><p>The agency also received assurance that the municipality had already started realignment of the EME budget.</p><div><br/></div><div><br/></div>

<p>COA noted that the municipality did not take into the account the said limitation.</p>

COA noted that the municipality did not take into the account the said limitation.

COA flags Guiuan town for spending millions despite P26,000 discretionary fund limit

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COA flags Guiuan town for spending millions despite P26,000 discretionary fund limit

Victoria Tulad,

ABS-CBN News

Published April 10, 2024 12:14 PM PHT

Read More:

coa

guiuan eastern samar

EME

discretionary fund

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