BACOLOD City – With the ongoing final inventory for turnover of barangay properties, financial records and documents by the City Assessment and Transition Team (CATT), the city government proposes implementing a proper tagging system.
Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez learned that newly elected officials of Barangay 20, with its punong barangay, Mark Abancio, were surprised to learn that the barangay hall had hardly any properties.
“I asked [Atty. Jeremae Ann Ceriaco, acting city accountant and chairperson of CATT], and she told me that Barangay 20 indeed only has a few properties,” Benitez said.
Benitez proposed to enhance the tagging of government assets through a QR code system that links to the corresponding documentation and record of the property.
“Double check; there must be an inventory in every barangay. There should be a proper turnover in front of the CATT,” the local chief executive emphasized. “Even the disbursements should tally in the accounting and audit. Have they procured properties using government funds or none?”
The mayor is set to meet with the City Accounting, Commission on Audit, and the Department of Interior and Local Government to lay down the protocols for missing items in the inventory.
“If there are missing items, they will have to face the music,” Benitez pointed out, adding that the outgoing person/s in charge of the assets of the barangay is the one responsible for answering the missing property and could be criminally liable even if they are no longer connected with the barangay./PN
