The Muntinlupa City government announced that its Treasurer’s Office will no longer accept personal and company checks as payment.
In a Facebook post on April 1, the city government said this is based on the “Commission on Audit (COA) Circular No. 2013-004, Items 26-28, Chapter II” or the Revised Cash Examination Manual.
It said only cash and manager’s checks with the City Treasurer of Muntinlupa as payee will be accepted for on-site payment.
The Muntinlupa City Treasurer's Office at the Muntinlupa Sports Center (Photo from Muntinlupa PIO)
Under items 26 to 28 of the COA circular, “Checks presented for payment must be drawn by the payor himself and made payable to the agency or head of agency. In the latter case, only the official title or designation of the agency head concerned shall be stated as the payee.”
It prohibits the following checks as payment: checks drawn payable to the name of the agency head or any of its officers, endorsed private checks, post-dated checks, and stale checks.
“When a check drawn in favor of the government is not accepted by the drawee for any reason, the drawer shall continue to be liable for the sum due and all penalties resulting from delayed payments. Where the reason for non-acceptance by the drawee bank is insufficiency of funds, the drawer shall be criminally liable therefore,” the circular stated.
It added, “Whenever a payor has a record of a previously dishonored private check drawn by him in payment of taxes and dues, even if such check has already been settled, any private check presented by him shall no longer be accepted. In such case, the payor shall be required to pay only in cash or by certified check. Each agency head, or treasurer, in the case of local government units, shall make a list of payors whose checks have been dishonored and shall circularize the list to all COs under his jurisdiction.”
The Muntinlupa City Treasurer's Office is temporarily located at the West Wing of the Muntinlupa Sports Center in Barangay Tunasan and is open from Mondays to Fridays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.