FOR four straight year, the Makati City government has obtained the “highest audit” rating from the Commission on Audit (COA) for its consistent compliance with auditing rules and procedures.
“This latest achievement is immensely gratifying, and does justice to all the efforts of the city government to keep transactions and spending above board at the height of the pandemic,” said Mayor Mar-len Abigail “Abby” S. Binay who was heartened by the news after receiving the “unmodified opinion” from COA.
In a letter to the mayor dated June 16, 2021, COA director Omar S. Roque affirmed that “the Auditor rendered an unmodified opinion on the fairness of presentation of the financial statements of the City.” Based on the attached Independent Auditor’s Report, Makati’s 2020 financial statements were “in accordance with the International Public Sector Accounting Standards [PSAS].”
“We made sure that even our emergency purchases for Covid-19 response were done by the book. We also prioritized our fund allocations to meet the urgent needs of vulnerable sectors severely affected by the crisis,” Binay said of the “unprecedented” highest COA rating. It also meant that Makati has set a new record among local government units for having obtained the highest audit rating from the state auditor.
Binay called the award as “fair and impartial” evaluation of the city’s financial statements since she came on board in June of 2016.
The city earned the first “unqualified opinion” of COA for 2017, the first full year of Binay in office. The term has since been changed to “unmodified opinion”.
Since June 2016, the administration of Binay has been implementing reforms and innovations to promote transparency and
efficiency in its operations.
These included a Business One-Stop Shop (BOSS) established at the ground floor of Makati City Hall Building II, which has served as a common site to process applications and payments and issue licenses, clearances and permits.
It also continues to pursue a ‘no-contact’ policy to eliminate fixers and curtail corruption, particularly in the processing of business permits.
Currently being developed is an enhanced business permit and licensing system or e-BPLS, a computerized system that will provide easy access to business permits through different platforms.
Other notable achievements under the current city leadership include posting a two-digit increase in revenue collections in 2017 for the first time after 12 years of one-digit gains. The city has also consistently surpassed its revenue targets for the past four years.
After several years, Makati reclaimed its title as the country’s richest local government unit after its assets reached P196.57 billion in 2017. The Department of the Interior and Local Government confirmed Makati as the first LGU to breach the P100-billion mark.
As of 2019, Makati remained the richest locality with assets valued at P233.78 billion in COA’s annual financial report.