Again, the provincial government of Eastern Samar has been flagged by the Commission on Audit (COA) in its 2023 annual audit report.
Earlier, COA found that Contract of Service (COS) and Job Order (JO) personnel hired by Eastern Samar province were not only paid below the daily minimum wage, but worse, their salaries had always been delayed in 2023.
This time, COA said it found that three provincial projects funded at P5.85 million had been reported as "100 percent completed" in 2023 even if two of the projects were still ongoing and the other has not been started at the time the audit was conducted.
COA said the first project, which is the construction of a Multi-Purpose Building Covered Court Phase 1 funded at P2,367,772.85, was declared as "100 percent completed." However, it said that when state auditors inspected the court on Jan. 25, 2024, they discovered that the project is actually still ongoing.
It said there were uninstalled project billboards and signboards, and actual concreting work was still ongoing. Upon inquiry with the foreman and barangay (village) official, the COA discovered that construction actually had just started.
The second project, it said, involved road concreting at Barangay Baras in Guiuan town. While it was also declared as "100 percent completed," the inspection showed the project has not even started.
When a barangay official was asked about the delay, it was learned that the project was allegedly transferred to another barangay and the contract had expired on Oct. 7, 2023, it said.
Lastly, COZ said the road concreting at Barangay Salug, also in Guiuan town, was also found to be incomplete despite its "100 percent completed" status in the province's report. The audit team found uninstalled project billboards and signboards, and the project was allegedly abandoned by the contractor, it said.
COA pointed out that the failure of the province to provide the relevant information in its report violates the policy of full disclosure of all transactions involving public interest and deprives the people of their right to information on matters of public concern.
"The discrepancies between the percentage of completion reflected in the report and the actual accomplishment per site inspection by the audit team indicated lack of proper monitoring and validation of the project's implementation on the part of the Provincial Engineering Office (PEO)," it pointed out.
"The inconsistency and inaccuracy of information impair the reliability of the submitted reports, thereby depriving intended users of accurate information about the agency's actual completed/ongoing projects," it added.
COA then asked the provincial engineer to properly monitor the project implementation and undertake on-site validation to keep the report updated and prepare a GPPA report with accurate and complete data.
"Further, the report should be examined and reviewed by the pertinent signatories before submission to avoid erroneous information that will mislead decision-makers and the public," it said.
At the same time, COA said that government project contractors are required to properly inform the public about the project's progress by displaying tarpaulins and billboards and to keep these regularly updated.