The Commission on Audit (COA) has flagged the Leyte provincial government for the “delays and leniency in the monitoring” of its P251.13 million infrastructure projects. In its annual audit report for Leyte for 2022, the COA said there were multiple contract time extensions and work suspensions and "leniency" in monitoring actual project status and contractors' performance. Thus, it said, the "implementation of the projects was not speedy and efficient and significant amount of liquidated damages could not be imposed on erring contractors." It said one of the delayed projects is the concreting of the Ciabu-Monterico Road in Baybay City for P19.97 million. It said the project was supposed to be completed within 260 days but the contractor was granted 14 extensions for 424 days. Another delayed project, it said, is the farm-to-market road from Barangay Calubian to Barangay Camote and Barangay Amandangan for P20.37 million. While this was supposed to be completed in 100 days, contractors were given an extension of 212 days, it said. It also said that the P19.96 million rehabilitation of the Railes-Enage-Anislagan-Casiongan Road in San Isidro was likewise given a 241-day extension after missing its 120-day target. The COA pointed out that under Republic Act No. 9184, the Government Procurement Reform Act, the extension of contract time is determined by the government's authorized engineer. It also cited the Manual of Procedures for the Procurement of Infrastructure Projects which states: "No extension of contract time will be granted if the reason given to support the request for extension was already considered in the determination of the original contract time during the conduct of detailed engineering and in the preparation of the contract documents." With its findings, the COA recommended that the provincial engineer and project monitoring team designate a project site or area engineer who will monitor closely the progress of construction works. “This person shall maintain the project logbook to record the daily project activities in order to validate the contractor’s compliance of the project specifications and protect the interest of the government,” it said. It also recommended the confirmation and evaluation of the reasons cited for extension requests and require the submission of the necessary documents, including pictures, before these are submitted to the Office of the Governor for approval.