Amid COA questions, Sara Duterte says no Davao City funds lost, misused

Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte on Thursday said that the city government and the Commission on Audit had already resolved the issues raised by state auditors in their report for 2017.

According to a report on "24 Oras", Duterte said that no city funds were lost or misused, as shown by the absence of any notice of disallowance from COA.

She added that the local government had already submitted the documents required by the government auditors.

The COA has flagged the local government of Davao City for spending P569.39 million in public funds despite the lack of supporting documents on the inventory of supplies, allotment of equipment for public schools, and inconsistencies with the procurement law.

In its 2017 annual audit report, COA said the local government's inventory balance  of P486.34 million was of "doubtful validity" since some no longer existed and yet were still carried in the book of records.

It also found Davao City's expenses for the salaries of thousands of its contractual workers have ballooned to almost a billion pesos in 2017 despite questions over the workers' specific duties three years ago.

COA also questioned Davao City's failure to use more than half a billion pesos worth of disaster funds in 2017.

According to COA, the non-use of P553.65 million deprived Davao City residents of "resiliency in man-made and natural calamities." —NB/KG, GMA News