Telephone
Expenses Total
Name
unobligated Cellcard Adjusted
No. of Remarks
balance as of charges in Balance of
Office
12/31/2024 CY 2024 Telephone Expenses
(a) (b) (a-b)
1 CMO ₱123,988.40 ₱36,000.00 ₱87,988.40
2 CVMO 36,000.00 27,101.00 8,899.00
3 SP 62,825.02 313,625.00 (250,799.98) overdraft
no
SP appropriation
4 0.00 19,840.00 (19,840.00)
Secretariat for telephone
expenses
5 CAdO 50,000.00 8,856.00 41,144.00
6 CPDO 40,576.33 17,712.00 22,864.33
7 CGSO 27,854.45 18,000.00 9,854.45
8 CTO 843.10 17,712.00 (16,868.90) overdraft
9 CAsO 13,523.72 17,712.00 (4,188.28) overdraft
10 CLO 20,576.30 17,712.00 2,864.30
11 CENRO 11,564.48 17,712.00 (6,147.52) overdraft
12 CEO 12,687.40 16,072.00 (3,384.60) overdraft
TOTAL ₱400,439.20
Note: Expenditures incurred in excess of the available appropriation of the six offices totaled
₱301,229.28
8.9. The incurrence of expenditures in excess of the available appropriation violates
Sections 85 and 87 of P.D. No. 1445, which strictly prohibits spending government
funds in the absence of sufficient appropriations, declaring that such occurrences
become the personal liability of the approving officers.
8.10. Aside from COA Circular No. 2015-009, the Department of Budget and Management
(DBM) issued Circular No. 2024-2 dated August 2, 2024, which provides the
guidelines on the payment of communication expenses of certain government
personnel. Section 8.1 of the said Circular specifically states that “The amounts
required for the payment of communication expenses of department/agency officials
and employees shall be charged against the respective available ‘Telephone Expenses
– Mobile’ under the MOOE.” It likewise provides, among others, the corresponding
allowable communication expense for personnel with salary grades 24 to 31,
including other officials of equivalent rank. This effectively supersedes SP
Resolution No. 20-129 dated March 9, 2020, which the City used as basis in
providing the cellcard allowance.
8.11. Due to the foregoing, the Office Supplies Expenses account was overstated while the
Telephone Expenses account was understated by ₱528,054.00. Moreover, the
erroneous charging of obligations by the City Budget Office (CBO) and recording in
the books by the CAO resulted in illegal expenditures totaling ₱301,229.28, which
is considered as a personal liability of the approving officers per Section 87 of P.D.
No. 1445.
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