The Commission on Audit has held former Makati City mayor Jejomar Binay Jr. culpable for disallowed use of P45 million in intelligence and confidential fund in 2011 and 2013.
Also held liable were former city budget officer Lorenza Amores and former acting city administrator Marjorie de Veyra for the offense committed in 2011 and ex-city administrator Eleno Mendoza Jr. for a separate offense in 2013.
CoA ordered those accountable to return the money to the city government.
Binay, Amores, De Veyra and Mendoza, however, had been given six months to file their plea upon the receipt of their notices of disallowance.
For failure to do so, the disallowance becomes final and executory, CoA warned.
Last Sept. 5, CoA issued the first notice of disallowance, identifying Binay, Amores and acting De Veyra as the persons responsible for the 2011 transaction.
It issued a second notice of disallowance also on Sept. 5 involving the 2013 intelligence and confidential fund to Binay, Amores and Mendoza.
Binay authorized the disbursement of the fund as cash advances, while the city administrator acted as project accountable officer and special disbursing officer.
On the other hand, the city budget officer issued certifications on the correctness of the computation of the intelligence and confidential fund.
An audit showed the Makati City government erred to include the personal services of its public safety department in the computation of its public order program budget.
For 2011, the city’s public order program budget was set at P371.71 million, including P295.95 million for the public safety department.
The city government issued cash advances of P50 million charged against intelligence and confidential funds.
CoA said the correct adjusted public order program budget without the public safety department’s inclusion should have been only P87.21 million, of which 30 percent of this only amounted to P26.164 million.
Only P20 million disbursed through a Dec. 2, 2010 check was covered by the notice of disallowance.
In the 2013 transaction, CoA said the city government released anew P50 million in four equal installments of P12.5 million through checks dated March 27, June 6, Aug. 12 and Oct. 7, all in 2013.
The last two releases were disallowed in audit since only P25 million was approved by the Office of the President.
“It will be noted that the President’s approval of the request of the city government for the release of ICF of P50,000,000 was allowed only for P25,000,000 applicable to the first-semester intelligence and confidential fund operations of the city government,” CoA’s decision read.
