The Commission on Audit (COA) has asked the city government of Puerto Princesa to return a total of ₱433.5 million in audit disallowances, representing disbursements that were disapproved during its 2024 audit after being found illegal.
The COA report did not provide a detailed breakdown of the ₱433.5 million, but it included ₱2.5 million in payments made to senior citizens who were already deceased. COA also flagged ₱725 spent for financial assistance that lacked adequate liquidation documents, as well as ₱82,000 in overpayments due to duplicate listings of beneficiaries.
Audit disallowances refer to government expenditures that COA has rejected as improper. The ₱433.5 million amount represents the cumulative total of unresolved cases, some of which date back several years.
The COA findings were discussed with city officials during an exit conference held on June 10, 2025, where the city government’s comments were considered before the audit report was finalized.
When asked for comment, city information officer Atty. Glaiza Kaye Vicente-Moncatar said the city government had already acted on the audit findings.
“I already talked with the Internal Audit Service (IAS). As per our IAS, nagawan na po ng action ’yang audit report,” Moncatar said.
However, she did not specify whether the actions taken included the return of the disallowed funds cited by COA.
The audit body also cited the city government for its repeated failure to recover ₱81,925,063.67 in advance payments made to contractors whose contracts had been terminated due to delays and repeated violations.
This included ₱29,487,863.13 in advances to GSMAXX Construction, which was awarded the San Jose Market Project, a project that has been delayed for the past five years.
COA claimed that the city government did not exert any effort to recover the overpayments or file legal complaints against the erring contractors, despite repeated recommendations from the audit body.
Overall, COA attributed the city government’s failure to complete 95 infrastructure projects worth more than ₱2.2 billion in 2024 to “inadequate planning.”
