The Commission on Audit has flagged the Pasig City government for using only P196.137 million out of its total budget of P951.787 million, or just over 20 percent, for the procurement of supplies and other materials.
State auditors raised concerns that the remaining P755.649 million might go to waste in their report released Tuesday.
CoA’s 2018 audit said the Pasig City government’s “excessive” procurement of supplies and materials led to slow-moving inventory items, such as merchandise inventory worth P213.675 million, food supplies for distribution worth P22.432 million, medicines worth P12.610 million, textbooks and other educational materials worth P15.284 million.
“Procurement of supplies and materials were made beyond the normal three-month requirements,” it read.
Previous city mayor Robert Eusebio, who stepped down July 1 after losing in the May elections to Vico Sotto, received CoA’s report last June 28.
State auditors told the city government to procure only “appropriate quantities at the right time.”
“A more comprehensive plan that would tend to correct erroneous procurement projections was being executed,” CoA said, quoting the Office of the Mayor.
The bids and awards committee consolidated requests, resulting in a slow procurement process that had caused delays in the repairs of schools and other government facilities.
Despite these lapses, CoA cited Pasig’s 2018 increased revenue of P10.883 billion, with an increase of P1.941 billion from the 2017 revenue of P8.941 billion.