MANILA - The former administration of Pasig City mayor Bobby Eusebio purchased P951.787 million worth of supplies but utilized only P196.137 million, leaving inventory items amounting to P755.649 million which may go to waste due to obsolescence, according to the Commission on Audit.

State auditors said in the 2018 audit on Pasig City that the local government’s “excessive” procurement of supplies and materials resulted in slow-moving inventory items such as merchandise inventory worth P213.675 million, food supplies for distribution worth P22.432 million, medicines worth P12.610 million, textbooks and other educational materials worth P15.284 million.

“Procurement of supplies and materials were made beyond the normal three-month requirements,” the COA report said.

The office of former mayor Bobby Eusebio received a copy of the report on June 28, 2019.

The audit team recommended in the report that the city administration procures “appropriate quantities at the right time.”

The audit report noted that the office of Eusebio said a “more comprehensive plan that would tend to correct erroneous procurement projections” were being executed.

Government auditors also noted that consolidation by the city’s Bids and Awards Committee of requests from all departments resulted in slow procurement process which resulted to delays in the repairs of schools and other government facilities, among others.

The city administration noted that most of the biddings failed, resulting in slow procurement process.

Despite procurement problems, the audit team noted the increased revenue of the city for 2018 amounting to P10.883 billion with an increase of P1.941 billion from the 2017 revenue totaling P8.941 billion.

The full audit report on Pasig City can be downloaded from the COA website.