Citizens challenge LGU Tinambac, Camarines Sur, to clean house amid COA audit findings

Citizens group in Tinambac, Camarines Sur, challenges the local government to practise good housekeeping on financial management in the wake of new anomalies dug out by audit.

Reports of anomalies in the Commission on Audit’s (COA) findings in the Local Government Unit of Tinambac have prompted a good governance movement to challenge the LGU with a call for transparency.

The audit report on Tinambac for 2020 was released by COA in its official website.

The audit had unearthed questionable transactions and violations by the LGU in the use of public funds.

“I encourage my fellow Tinambaqueños to speak out,” said Ms. Marion Abiog of the Bangon Tinambac movement

“We call for transparency from LGU Tinambac in light of the findings in the 2020 COA audit report.”

Bangon Tinambac is a movement for good governance in the town which Ms. Abiog leads together with Councilor Oming Ababan Velarde.

The document, as published in the official COA website, show that the LGU had unexplained disbursements, land purchased without legal documents of ownership, and unliquidated cash advances.

“Did LGU Tinambac already comply in providing COA with documentation for the P19.38 Million that were not submitted for audit? Are ownership papers for the P18 Million worth of land purchased already filed or in the works? How about the P17.8 Million in cash advances, do these still remain unliquidated? Ms. Abiog, in a public statement, asked.

Marion Abiog served in the LGU as the former head of the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office. Before that, she was involved in humanitarian NGOs involved in disaster risk reduction. She is a graduate of the University of the Philippines.

“We ask these questions because there is need for transparency in the use of people’s money. As citizens of Tinambac we have the right to know the truth and the LGU has an obligation to report the truth,” added Ms. Abiog.

“My UP experience taught me that we should hold government officials to the highest standards of governance. But shouldn’t we all be doing that as citizens?”