The San Pedro barangay council in Puerto Princesa City has approved a resolution to investigate the delay in submitting their financial transaction records to the city government.
The resolution implicates Ellen Bacolod, the former barangay treasurer and current kagawad, in suspicions of alleged document falsification.
“’The prolonged delay in submission raises suspicions of possible falsification of public documents. If there are no documents to be satisfied, then we have to comply in a timely manner. Kinonsider natin, last December, someone asked me for the full disclosure policy… the former treasurer said it would be posted,” Tabang said.
The resolution was authored by Barangay San Pedro council member Clifford Tabang and co-authored by fellow council members Ma. Frelin Castro, Reynante Tabang, Zanderson Palatino, and Daniel Tabang.
They expressed concerns over what they claimed was a delay in the auditing of their files by the Commission on Audit (COA), attributing it to the lack of any financial reports submitted to the City Accounting Office by Bacolod.
In response, Bacolod cited the pandemic as the cause for the delay in submitting these records.
“For the record, I have already complied the 2021 [report] at sa 2022 ay sa September na ako. (…) Bakit ba tayo nagkaroon ng problema sa reports? Because of the pandemic. During those years, [ang] masasabi ko lang ay wala tayong ibang ginawa dito kundi mag-assist sa ating mga residente. Sixty six barangays, lahat may problema,” Bacolod said.
“Yung maliliit na barangay nga di makapag-update, tayo pa kayang malalaking barangay? Coming from the mouth of Mr. Padul, ang San Pedro ay katulad na ng isang munisipyo ng Agutaya,” she defended.
She said she has been working overtime on weekends to write reports and blamed other members of the council for being late in submitting theirs. However, this claim was denied by other council members who showed receipts of their submitted reports.
Tabang expressed doubt regarding Bacolod’s statement, asserting that the ample time provided to her to prepare the reports, even before the last election, should have been sufficient for her to submit a complete report to the COA on time.
“Bakit mo pa ayaw i-report kung nandiyan din lang naman, eh napapansin ko na natataranta siya pag binibigyan na siya ng deadline. Saka lang siya nagpapapirma, meaning parang falsification na iyan kasi kung magsa-submit ka na lang, eh di isa-submit mo na lang. Baka ginagawaan pa ngayon ng paraan,” he said.
“I don’t believe that she is already done with the 2021 [report]. Because upon checking from the City Accounting Office, there are attachments for the transactions that are incomplete. Di natin alam kung sino ang paghihinalaan natin,” Tabang added.
San Pedro is one of Puerto Princesa City’s largest barangays, with an estimated annual budget of ₱28 million to cover the needs of the constituents within the urban sprawl.
These transactions are currently handled by the Land Bank of the Philippines, which has also delayed the barangay’s previous transactions due to slow lines and frequent errors in the bank’s system.
During the same regular session, a representative from the Development Bank of the Philippines offered their bank’s services for the barangay’s future transactions.
The council agreed to consider the proposal after their 2021-2023 financial reports were audited by the COA.
