Laoag City officials, no show at SP hearing on coop deal

By Leilanie G. Adriano and Bernard Ver

LAOAG CITY—Laoag Mayor Chevylle Fariñas and five other city officials failed to show up at a joint committee hearing that the Sangguniang Panlalawigan set on September 4, 2018 to clarify alleged questionable transactions between the city government and one of the biggest cooperatives in Ilocos region.

In a September 3, 2018 letter addressed to Ilocos Norte Vice Governor Eugenio Angelo M. Barba, which the Sangguniang Panlalawigan office received on the afternoon of September 4, 2018, Mrs. Fariñas along with Laoag City legal officer Marlon Wayne D. Manuel, city accountant Edgar Pascual, SP Member Shirley Ong Sin, Secretary to the Sanggunian Enrico Aurelio, and acting city treasurer Diomedes Gayban said they could not attend the hearing due to a similar investigation the Sangguniang Panlungsod  set on September 6, 2018.

“We could not come to your joint committee hearing, as we will be attending a similar investigation of the Sangguniang Panlungsod,” the city officials said in the letter with their affixed signatures.

However, according to SP member Vicentito M. Lazo, who called for the hearing in his capacity as chairperson of the committee on finance and appropriation, their reason is not acceptable because “Laoag City is a dependent component city.”

“Laoag City is under the jurisdiction of Ilocos Norte. The Sangguniang Panlalawigan covers 21 towns and two cities of the province. So, if the SP creates or amends a resolution or ordinance, it will encompass the City of Laoag and all other LGUs within its jurisdiction,” he said.

The controversy stemmed from the Commission on Audit’s (COA) annual audit reports for 2016 and 2017, where, Mr. Lazo reported, there are some “questionable transactions.”

“The COA can’t understand if these are real assets, as there are no itemized schedules and they can’t verify it,” he said referring to the transactions made by the city government with the Government of Laoag Employees Development Cooperative (GLEDCO).

To shed light on the issue, the Ilocos Norte board invited the city officials to explain, but only Laoag Vice Mayor Franklin Dante A. Respicio showed up.

The provincial board set another hearing for the same issue while also inviting the same officials again to attend “in aid of legislation.”

The issue Mr. Lazo referred to came out during a joint committee hearing of the committees on laws, finance and appropriations.

The hearing discussed the controversial Commission on Audit’s (COA) report of the city government of Laoag and GLEDCO for the year 2016 and 2017.

According to Mr. Lazo, the committees found-out from COA that in the year 2016 the city had a PHP187 million cash deficit and another PHP115 million deficit for 2017.

Mr. Lazo added that the Laoag City’s fund is currently insufficient to pay their liabilities for the government operations and other services.

The COA in Laoag is also eyeing the more or less PHP90 million missing fund as one of the causes of insufficiency on the city’s budget.

Meanwhile, the Laoag City government is reluctant to show some of the documents needed for the COA to initiate a notice of suspension and disallowance of the said cause.

Present during the hearing as resource speakers were Laoag City COA auditor Remelyn Guiang and provincial audit team leader Marilyn Llaguno.