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BY MAE SINGUAY
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BACOLOD City – The five city government employees suspended for allegedly failing to liquidate cash advances (CAs) have broken their silence.
Pacita Tero, Mae Cuaycong, Edsel Casilagan, Diana Besañes, and Ma. Fe Tresfuentes held a news conference yesterday at the Negros Press Club where they refuted the allegations of the City Legal Office (CLO).
Calling themselves the “Fallen 5,” they claimed the City Accounting Office kept returning their liquidations even when they have complied with the requirements.
The CLO, headed by Atty. Joselito Bayatan, charged them with gross neglect of duty before the City Mayor’s Office.
They allegedly failed to liquidate P9,625,866 in CAs. They were preventively suspended for two months without pay effective Sept. 7.
Being “career employees,” Tresfuentes of city hall’s Department of Public Services said they want to clear their names.
“As public servants, we are aware of our responsibilities,” she stressed.
She admitted obtaining a CA for the 2015 Charter Day celebration and MassKara Festival.
But “I submitted my liquidation to the Accounting Office on July 13, 2016 — almost a month before a memo from Leonardia came on Aug. 9,” she said, referring to the CLO order for them to explain their supposed failure to liquidate.
The CLO is under the office of Mayor Evelio Leonardia.
Cuaycong, the City Planning and Development Office assistant head, did not liquidate the P3-million CA she acquired on April 21, 2015 for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) 2015, the CLO claimed.
Cuaycong said her family returned the amount to the city government to clear her record.
She plans to bring her liquidation to the Commission on Audit (COA) central office and take the amount back.
APEC 2015 “put Bacolod in the limelight as one of the hosts of the [ministerial] meetings,” said Cuaycong. “Sad to say, because of it, I was charged with gross neglect of duty and preventively suspended for 60 days.”
The CLO claimed Diana Besañes, a City Health Office nursing assistant, also failed to liquidate the P500,000 CA she obtained on April 8, 2015 for the Panaad sa Negros Festival that year.
Besañes insisted she submitted her liquidation to the Accounting Office on Nov. 15 that year.
“It was only on July 28 this year when they discovered there were lacking requirements, [but] I already complied,” she said. “Why should I be charged with gross neglect of duty?”
Tero, Department of Social Services and Development head, stressed she already liquidated the CAs she acquired on May 21, 2014 for the Philippine National Games in Manila (P84,866) and on April 28, 2015 for APEC 2015 (P3.5 million).
Casilagan, Public Affairs Assistance Division personnel, also insisted the CAs he obtained on Feb. 11, 2015 for the Hong Kong International Chinese New Year Celebration from Feb. 15 to 22 that year (P500,000) and for the “Lamesa ni Mayor” project (P11,685) have been fully liquidated.
Their counsel, Atty. Joel Cabalatungan, believed his clients should not have been charged.
“The COA has yet to send a final demand to liquidate and settle,” said the former Negros Occidental provincial accountant. “In fact, the liquidation reports have not yet reached the COA.”
The City Accounting Office has yet to comment on the matter as of this writing./PN
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