By Edalyn B. Acta
Newly-installed Mayor Jonathan “Sonny” Besa of the Municipality of Panay requested the Commission on Audit (COA) to audit the administration of former mayor Vicente “Vic” Bermejo.
“Let them [COA] find out everything,” Besa told The Capiz Times in an interview.
Specifically, Besa asked for a special audit covering the last six months of the Bermejo administration—from January 1 to June 30, 2025.
The new mayor would leave it to COA, which is the proper authority, to assess the fiscal management of the local government unit (LGU) under the Bermejo administration.
This comes as Besa questioned the claims made by the then Bermejo administration that they complied with the order of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) in terms of transmission of necessary documents.
Besa said that Bermejo’s transmission team never submitted a transmittal letter, which outlines the list of pertaining documents of the outgoing administration.
The Bermejo administration allegedly failed to turn over to the Besa administration the documents of transactions for the Municipal Treasurer Office, the Municipal Accounting Office, General Services Office, among others.
Meanwhile, Besa vowed to address problems and concerns raised by department heads of Panay LGU including lack of manpower, lack of equipment and disorganized workplaces.
“We need to fix this and put things in order so that the employees can work properly,” Besa said.
Besa wondered why there was a lack of manpower when the Bermejo administration had around 110 regular employees and 200 job orders.
Meanwhile, Besa expressed his gratitude to the Capiz Provincial Government.
Besa thanked Governor Fredenil “Oto” Castro for extending the expertise of the provincial government’s Human Resource Department to help put in order the manpower of Panay LGU under his administration.
