CALOOCAN City Mayor Enrico Echiverri faces yet another complaint filed by Vice Mayor Edgar Erice before the Office of the Ombudsman for the unauthorized use of about P1.5 billion from the Special Projects/Activities Fund from 2006 to 2010.
In his complaint, Erice said Echiverri spent P1,551,758,473.50 from the P2,124,644,527 that the city council appropriated for the SPAF without seeking the council’s authority.
He also noted the generic terms used to describe the object of expenditures under the SPAF.
“There must be a contract for every specific project approved by the Sanggunian before such fund may be used. Yet, from 2006 to 2010, no authority was granted to Mayor Echiverri by the Sanggunian to enter into any contract to be funded by the SPAF,” Erice said.
The fund was intended to finance socio-cultural and economic projects and activities of the city as determined and prioritized by the mayor.
Erice said he noticed a lump-sum appropriation made by Echiverri in the Proposed Annual Executive Budget of Caloocan City for Fiscal Year 2011. “I was disturbed to note that a lump-sum appropriation in the amount of P537,450,361 was proposed by Echiverri,” he said.
The vice mayor claimed that Echiverri deliberately violated Section 22 (c) and Section 455 of Republic Act 7160 or the Local Government Code of 1991 when he spent P1,551,758,473.50 intended for the SPAF from 2006 to 2010 without securing prior authorization by the Sanggunian.
“Even a cursory examination of the objects of expenditures to be funded by the SPAF are couched in generic terms and do not specify the functional code prescribed under the Chart of Account published by the Commission on Audit to identify the class of fund to which they belong and are not encompassed within the regular personal services and maintenance operating expenses,” Erice said.
As presiding officer of the city council, Erice vowed to make sure the financial affairs, transactions, and operations of the city conform to the principles provided by the Local Government Code of 1991.
These include, among others, “that no money shall be paid out of the local treasury except in pursuance of an appropriations ordinance or law and that government funds and monies shall be spent solely for public purposes.”
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