Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 17) — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) en banc on Monday said it passed a resolution to withhold the salaries and benefits of officials and employees with unliquidated cash advances.
“The Comelec en banc passed a resolution stating that all those with unliquidated cash advances na mga officials naming and employees, lahat ng salaries nila at benefits will be withheld until they are able to liquidate the cash advances,” Comelec chairman George Garcia said in his opening speech at the first-ever Procurement Summit.
The poll body chief said the resolution took effect this month, in line with their call for accountability and transparency. He added that they may consider the filing of criminal and administrative cases against individuals who fail to properly liquidate.
Garcia was referring to the Commission on Audit (COA) report flagging the ₱2.169-billion cash advances which remain unliquidated even with the purpose which it was granted for has been served.
https://www.cnnphilippines.com/news/2023/7/13/comelec-coa-unliquidated-cash-advances.html
As of July 13, the Comelec said the amount that remains to be settled has gone down to around P717 million. The poll body chief said the amount is broken down among provincial election supervisors, regional directors, and election officers nationwide.
“Ang problem po kasi ay ganito: Kung ang isang tao ay may unliquidated cash advance at bigla siyang nag-resign. So nag-resign hindi nag-process ng clearance at may unliquidated cash advance siya…therefore walang paraan ang Comelec na habulin siya,” Garcia explained.
“Yun pong madami doon ay yun pong presently mga official namin, mga kawani namin. Madami sa probinsya at meron din sa main office,” he added.
[Translation: The problem is this: If one person who has an unliquidated cash advance suddenly resigns and his clearance isn’t processed — the Comelec would have no way to run after the person. Many of these cash advances are from our present officials and personnel, some from the provinces and others from the main office.]
The Comelec chief said most of the unliquidated cash advances were from the 2022 national and local elections, while others were from two years ago. He said these violate Section 89 of Presidential Decree 1445, which states that “no cash advance shall be given unless for a legally authorized specific purpose.”
A COA circular also stated that cash advances should be liquidated from five to 60 days, depending on the purpose.
Garcia said the amount of unliquidated cash advances was bigger than what was reported by COA. Most were linked to lack of documentation.
“Hindi po ₱2 billion yun, ₱7 billion pa nga po yun eh. ₱7 billion po yun noong nakaraang taon. ₱2 billion nung early part ng 2022. Ngayon po ay ₱700 million na lamang. And before the end of this year, gagawin natin na mas mapababa pa yun hanggang ₱200 million, even hanggang ₱100 million,” he said.
[Translation: It’s not ₱2 billion, but actually ₱7 billion. ₱7 billion from the previous year. ₱2 billion from the early part of 2022. Now it’s only ₱700 million. And before the end of this year, we will lower that to ₱200 million, even to ₱100 million.]
