Frequently Asked Questions
FAQ: Municipality of Basey COA Audit Report (CY 2024)
Answers to common questions about the Commission on Audit (COA) Annual Audit Report of the Municipality of Basey, Province of Samar for the calendar year ended December 31, 2024. The guide contains 25 questions across its sections below. See the CY 2023 FAQ for the previous year’s report.
General Profile & Audit Overview
The Municipality of Basey was founded and created by virtue of a Royal Spanish proclamation. It is politically subdivided into fifty-one (51) barangays and is officially classified as a 1st class municipality. It serves primarily as a general-purpose local government unit responsible for delivering basic, regular, and direct services and providing effective governance to the constituents within its territorial jurisdiction.
Source and verification reference: Part I - Audited Financial Statements, Notes to Combined Financial Statements, Note 1 (Profile), p. 13; Executive Summary, Introduction, p. 1.
Financial Position & Balance Sheet Highlights
As of December 31, 2024, the combined financial position of the Municipality of Basey stood as follows:
- Total Assets: ₱1,130,821,080.03
- Total Liabilities: ₱254,519,709.46
- Total Net Assets/Equity: ₱876,301,370.57
Source and verification reference: Part I - Audited Financial Statements, Combined Statement of Financial Position, p. 5.
Financial Performance, Revenue & Operating Results
In CY 2024, the Municipality earned a total revenue of ₱318,908,845.40 (an increase of 6.64% from ₱299,055,159.15 in CY 2023).
| Revenue Category | Note | CY 2024 (₱) | CY 2023 (₱) | % Share (2024) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Share from Internal Revenue Collections (IRA) | - | 306,991,792.00 | 288,966,942.00 | 96.26% |
| Service and Business Income | 14 | 6,535,017.12 | 6,424,367.60 | 2.05% |
| Tax Revenue | 13 | 5,227,344.76 | 3,440,115.01 | 1.64% |
| Shares, Grants and Donations | 16 | 154,691.52 | 223,734.54 | 0.05% |
| TOTAL REVENUE | 318,908,845.40 | 299,055,159.15 | 100.00% |
Details of Tax and Service/Business Income:
- Tax Revenue Breakdown (Note 13): Business Tax: ₱2,934,206.43; Special Education Tax: ₱787,066.84 (less Discount: (₱64,310.62)); Community Tax: ₱636,603.74; Real Property Tax Basic: ₱629,653.47 (less Discount: (₱51,448.50)); Fines and Penalties: ₱355,573.40 (Property: ₱277,637.03; Other: ₱68,344.77; Individual/Corp: ₱9,591.61).
- Service & Business Income Breakdown (Note 14): Permit Fees: ₱1,336,943.72; Clearance & Certification Fees: ₱1,289,591.88; Fishery Rental Fees: ₱988,486.00; Registration Fees: ₱942,775.00; Other Business Income: ₱894,848.24; Garbage Fees: ₱284,880.00; Registration Plates/Tags/Stickers: ₱275,045.00; Fines & Penalties: ₱154,030.67; Processing Fees: ₱135,221.18; Other Service Income: ₱126,290.00; Interest Income: ₱77,528.43; Rent Income: ₱69,800.00; Slaughterhouse Operation: ₱64,276.00; Inspection Fees: ₱17,000.00.
Source and verification reference: Part I - Audited Financial Statements, Combined Statement of Financial Performance, p. 6; Notes to Combined Financial Statements, Notes 13, 14, 16, pp. 24-26.
Budget, Appropriations, and Utilization
- Original Budget / Appropriation: ₱315,522,645.00
- Final Budget / Appropriation: ₱347,760,319.21 (an augmentation/increase of ₱32,237,674.21)
- Actual Obligations Incurred: ₱315,098,778.18
- Unobligated Balance: ₱32,661,541.03
- Overall Budget Utilization Rate: 90.61%
Source and verification reference: Part I - Audited Financial Statements, Statement of Comparison of Budget and Actual Amounts (SCBAA), pp. 10-12; Executive Summary, Appropriations and Obligations, p. 2.
Special Funds & Statutory Allocations
Budget & Utilization:
- Total 20% DF Appropriation: ₱61,404,529.00 (MOOE: ₱4,600,000.00; Capital Outlay: ₱56,804,529.00).
- Total Obligations: ₱50,265,060.91 (MOOE: ₱3,399,800.00; Capital Outlay: ₱46,865,260.91).
- Unobligated Balance: ₱11,139,468.09 (MOOE: ₱1,200,200.00; Capital Outlay: ₱9,939,268.09).
- Utilization Rate: 81.86%.
Key Deficiencies (Observations 5 & 9):
- 1.Livelihood Financial Assistance (Obs. 9): The Municipality appropriated ₱4,000,000.00 and obligated ₱1,260,000.00 (and distributed ₱20,000.00 checks per organization) for livelihood financial assistance to accredited associations without ensuring that projects were well-planned, procurement-and-implementation ready, and without complete documentation/evaluation required under COA Circular No. 2007-001 and DBM-DOF-DILG JMC No. 1, s. 2020.
- 2.Erroneous Accounting (Obs. 5): ₱1,500,000.00 of livelihood assistance from the 20% DF was expensed outright as “Donations” instead of being recorded as a receivable (“Due from NGO/PO”) pending submission of required Fund Utilization/Liquidation Reports.
Source and verification reference: Part I - Audited Financial Statements, SCBAA, p. 11; Part II - Detailed Audit Observations and Recommendations, Observations Nos. 5 & 9, pp. 45-47, 59-66; Part IV - Appendix E, pp. 127-138.
Significant Audit Observations and Deficiencies
- 1.Notes to Financial Statements Deficiencies (Observation 1): Insufficient breakdown, missing aging analysis of Receivables (₱111,505,379.05), missing inventory locations/write-downs (₱12,413,996.39), missing PPE continuity schedules (₱885,440,099.30), and Biological Assets details (₱3,417,063.50), totaling ₱1,012,776,538.24, plus non-disclosure of Statement of Cash Flows and SCBAA reconciliations.
- 2.Omission of Continuing Appropriations (Observation 2): Complete omission of continuing appropriations data in the SCBAA.
- 3.Cash in Bank Discrepancies (Observation 3): Understatement of cash due to failure to adjust 19 unreleased checks totaling ₱2,294,313.33 and 3 cancelled checks totaling ₱20,125.00.
- 4.Retained Construction in Progress (Observation 4): Retaining a completed ₱2,712,092.67 Rice Processing Building and ₱1,105,500.00 Rice Mill in CIP since December 2023 due to an unpaid contractor retention balance of ₱246,411.15.
- 5.Insurable Properties Uninsured (Observation 8): Insurable municipal assets valued at ₱258,233,195.28 were not covered under the General Insurance Fund (GIF) of the GSIS due to incomplete physical counts and incomplete Property Inventory Forms (PIF).
- 6.Unremitted GSIS & Pag-IBIG Deductions (Observation 13): Failure to remit intact statutory employee deductions, incurring a net under-remittance of ₱1,599,753.97 in CY 2024, resulting in a total unremitted balance of ₱4,172,561.47 (GSIS: ₱3,569,233.59; Pag-IBIG: ₱603,327.88).
- 7.Unremitted BIR Withholding Taxes (Observation 14): Total unremitted taxes of ₱75,988.34 as of December 31, 2024 (CY 2024: ₱28,895.13; Prior Years: ₱47,093.21).
Source and verification reference: Part II - Detailed Audit Observations and Recommendations, Observations Nos. 1-4, 8, 13, 14, pp. 32-45, 55-59, 82-87.
Suspensions, Disallowances, and Charges (SASDC)
The total unsettled audit suspensions, disallowances, and charges as of December 31, 2024, stood at ₱14,726,562.97.
Source and verification reference: Part III - Status of Implementation of Prior Years’ Recommendations, Summary of Audit Suspensions, Disallowances and Charges, p. 108; Executive Summary, p. 13.
Status of Implementation of Prior Years’ Audit Recommendations
Out of the sixty-two (62) audit recommendations embodied in the CY 2023 and prior years’ Annual Audit Reports:
- Fully Implemented: 29 recommendations
- Not Implemented / Not Acted Upon: 33 recommendations
- Implementation Success Rate: 46.77%
Source and verification reference: Part III - Status of Implementation of Prior Years’ Unimplemented Audit Recommendations, pp. 90-108; Executive Summary, p. 13.