“Recent news reports on the allegedly ‘missing’ in-kind donations to Ormoc City is part of an Audit Observation Memorandum (AOM) released by the Commission on Audit (COA). What does it mean? An AOM is an audit finding that a local government unit (LGU) or any office or agency being audited has to explain, if so required by the COA. It cannot be considered as irregular if a comment has been submitted and no adverse conclusion is made.
At the end of the report, the COA did not make any adverse or negative finding. In the first place, there could not have been any adverse conclusion because nothing irregular really happened.
For transparency, my administration has always tapped local non-government organizations (NGOs) to receive donations given to Ormoc City. These donations are not inputted in the city’s records because the city did not spend for these donations. The only role of the city government is to facilitate the transfer of the donations.
The fact that the city government posted the donations in its official social media platforms is in keeping with our being transparent and accountable to the public. The malicious news reports insinuating irregularities in these transactions is not only an affront to the donors of these in-kind relief assistance but the city government of Ormoc, which was simply looking out for the welfare of the people of Leyte.”
The Bench Files 
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