SUSG Finance Com submits 98% of partial liquidation
By Andrea D. Lim, Ray Chen S. Bahinting, Rhobie Ruaya
Silliman University Student Government (SUSG) Finance Committee Chair Joyce Mae Pino submitted the receipts she was able to retrieve last Jan. 25 to the Business and Finance office to support the affidavit of loss of the partial liquidation submitted by the Finance Committee.
After Pino lost the partial liquidation of SUSG expenses worth Php 57,992 last Dec. 11, the Business and Finance office asked Pino to look for the receipts with her “best effort.”
“As of [Jan. 21], ang tanan namong nakuha is about 98 percent na,” Pino said.
Only Php 921 or 2 percent of the lost receipts cannot be retrieved anymore.
Pino said that most of the lost receipts like sponsorship receipt from Silliman Junior Business Executives for the Silliman Idol were “acknowledgment receipts,” which was why it was ‘easy’ for them to retrieve the receipts amounting to Php 57,000.
The remaining receipts from Staplesquare, Lee Super Plaza, BM Bakeshop, and Sta. Teresa Restaurant cannot be retrieved anymore.
According to Pino, Lee Super Plaza cannot provide an original copy of the receipts anymore since the transaction happened last August 2015. Staplesquare also cannot provide a copy of the original receipts since the receipts were given to the store’s bookkeeper.
Pino said that an incident report and narration of the efforts made by the Finance Committee was also submitted.
Meanwhile, Pino admits her mistake and apologized for what happened.
Pino said: “I tried my best to do my job as the [Finance Committee chair] and treasurer of the SUSG. Even though naay times nga it’s really hard if people don’t cooperate, but we are trying our best nga ma-okay among job.”
Meanwhile, Lucille Lopez, accounting staff of the Business and Finance office, said that the office does not easily accept affidavits of loss because they need to see proof of what was lost.
“Pwede man gud nga mupahimo ug affidavit [of loss] kay basin naay gipangtaguan nga expenses. So karon, at least makita nga nawala jud siya,” said Lopez.
Lopez added that the receipts that cannot be retrieved must be narrated in an incident report; an affidavit of loss will not be enough.
Meanwhile, Rep. Renz Macion from the College of Mass Communication said: “Aligned with the SUSG’s pledge of serving the student body by all means possible, our duty is to ensure that all operations undertaken by the SUSG are done with full transparency and accountability.”
Macion commended Pino for her ‘urgency’ in retrieving the receipts.
“But still, the students deserve a 100 percent liquidation, not 99 percent or 98 percent,” Macion added.
The committee will submit an incident report with the retrieved receipts, narrating all their efforts in retrieving the lost receipts and to be signed by the Committee on Finance, the Committee on Audit chairperson, the SUSG president, and their adviser.
Remaining unliquidated receipts
Speaker of the House Kimberly Flores called for a special meeting of the Silliman University Student Government (SUSG) assembly last Jan. 21 to discuss remaining issues regarding financial matters as she had already set 11:59 a.m. Jan.20 as the deadline for the liquidation.
Pino said that Php 3,745, which is 66 percent both from the presidential and vice-presidential discretionary funds remained unliquidated. The receipts for the amount, she said, are with Reyman Sy, the SG office manager last semester.
The total amount of receipts that were given by Sy is Php 1,797, which is 34 percent of Php 5,272, the total receipts that he must submit for liquidation.
“[Sy] gave me the receipts last Monday and now he has already a remaining liquidation of Php3,475. I texted him…but there’s still no response, but he told us that he’ll be giving it to us within the week,” Pino said.
Flores asked the Finance Committee if Sy was aware of the deadline and asked why Sy did not commit to the deadline.
“Yes, we at SURE [party] have been really pressuring [Sy] on complying, but for his part that is already out of our control. His presence is already out of our control. We have been doing our part,” Rep. Gil Buenavista from the College of Business Administration answered.
According to Buenavista, Sy was recognized as office manager for the first semester, the person who has been managing the SUSG office and the person purchasing office supplies. However, Sy was not enrolled this school year.
In an interview, Sy said that Pino has been asking for the receipts since the end of the first semester.
“I got busy pre and post-Hibalag, and I was hoping that I could still find [the receipts] in my boarding house. Personally, akong sala na nawala ang receipts. I’m accountable to it,” Sy said.
Rep. Josh Elloso from the College of Arts and Sciences said that the SUSG cannot have any hold at Sy because Sy is not enrolled.
Section 1 and 2 of Article III in the SUSG Constitution states that all those officially enrolled in Silliman can hold positions or be members in the student government. A student will automatically lose membership once s/he withdraws his/her enrolment in the university.
SUSG President Kirk Emperado said that Sy wasn’t enrolled for the whole school year because his family is moving to Canada. He regarded Sy “not just as an office manager,” but also as a secretary.
He added that even if Sy was not enrolled, he asked permission to Sir Abe Cadeliña, the officer-in-charge of the Student Organizations and Activities Division. The deal he had with the representatives is that Sy will only be office manager for the first semester.
“I never even stepped inside the office after the first semester,” Sy said in an interview.
Flores said in the special meeting that a lot of Executive Committee (ExeCom) members “are feeling the burden” of not having their cash advances signed by the Business and Finance office because the ExeCom members won’t be allowed to do so until the liquidations are complete.
Flores reminded the assembly that accountability and transparency must be demanded from people who handle student matters.
“The students have all the right in the world to know everything that is happening, to have their money continuously scrutinized as to where it goes, as to how it is spent and how it is being liquidated and that it is actually spent in the right appropriations,” Rep. Flores said.
For the presidential and vice-presidential funds, the Php 1000 that was charged directly to SUSG Vice President Nikko Calledo was already liquidated. Pino said that Calledo’s part in the vice-presidential discretionary fund was cleared.
For the Environmental Committee, Calledo liquidated the Php 7,000 fund for Environment Committee’s event “Environment Encounter.” Calledo will yet liquidate the Php 2,000 for the event “Say it, Wear it.”
Pino added that Calledo still lacks Php1,800 because “the total amount needed for that event was Php3800…[but] he doesn’t have the Php 1,800 to pay for what he spent for, that’s why he still can’t get the official receipt. He only gave Php 2,000.”
Calledo said in an interview last Jan. 24 that he already has the receipts from BBL Quick Print Services amounting to Php 3,800.
He added that some representatives did not confront him personally and ask him about the “real story.”
Calledo said that he paid Php 2,000 to BBL Quick Print Services last September. The allotted budget for the committee was Php 2,000; the total amount spent by the committee was Php 3,800.
According to Calledo, the store didn’t give the receipts until he paid the whole amount. He had a debt of Php 1,800.
“Nangutang ko’g Php 1,800 sa akong manghod. I paid already and got the receipts,” he said.
He paid the full amount last Friday, Jan. 22.
ndrea D. Lim, Ray Chen S. Bahinting, Rhobie Ruaya
Silliman University Student Government (SUSG) Finance Committee Chair Joyce Mae Pino submitted the receipts she was able to retrieve last Jan. 25 to the Business and Finance office to support the affidavit of loss of the partial liquidation submitted by the Finance Committee.
After Pino lost the partial liquidation of SUSG expenses worth Php 57,992 last Dec. 11, the Business and Finance office asked Pino to look for the receipts with her “best effort.”
“As of [Jan. 21], ang tanan namong nakuha is about 98 percent na,” Pino said.
Only Php 921 or 2 percent of the lost receipts cannot be retrieved anymore.
Pino said that most of the lost receipts like sponsorship receipt from Silliman Junior Business Executives for the Silliman Idol were “acknowledgment receipts,” which was why it was ‘easy’ for them to retrieve the receipts amounting to Php 57,000.
The remaining receipts from Staplesquare, Lee Super Plaza, BM Bakeshop, and Sta. Teresa Restaurant cannot be retrieved anymore.
According to Pino, Lee Super Plaza cannot provide an original copy of the receipts anymore since the transaction happened last August 2015. Staplesquare also cannot provide a copy of the original receipts since the receipts were given to the store’s bookkeeper.
Pino said that an incident report and narration of the efforts made by the Finance Committee was also submitted.
Meanwhile, Pino admits her mistake and apologized for what happened.
Pino said: “I tried my best to do my job as the [Finance Committee chair] and treasurer of the SUSG. Even though naay times nga it’s really hard if people don’t cooperate, but we are trying our best nga ma-okay among job.”
Meanwhile, Lucille Lopez, accounting staff of the Business and Finance office, said that the office does not easily accept affidavits of loss because they need to see proof of what was lost.
“Pwede man gud nga mupahimo ug affidavit [of loss] kay basin naay gipangtaguan nga expenses. So karon, at least makita nga nawala jud siya,” said Lopez.
Lopez added that the receipts that cannot be retrieved must be narrated in an incident report; an affidavit of loss will not be enough.
Meanwhile, Rep. Renz Macion from the College of Mass Communication said: “Aligned with the SUSG’s pledge of serving the student body by all means possible, our duty is to ensure that all operations undertaken by the SUSG are done with full transparency and accountability.”
Macion commended Pino for her ‘urgency’ in retrieving the receipts.
“But still, the students deserve a 100 percent liquidation, not 99 percent or 98 percent,” Macion added.
The committee will submit an incident report with the retrieved receipts, narrating all their efforts in retrieving the lost receipts and to be signed by the Committee on Finance, the Committee on Audit chairperson, the SUSG president, and their adviser.
Remaining unliquidated receipts
Speaker of the House Kimberly Flores called for a special meeting of the Silliman University Student Government (SUSG) assembly last Jan. 21 to discuss remaining issues regarding financial matters as she had already set 11:59 a.m. Jan.20 as the deadline for the liquidation.
Pino said that Php 3,745, which is 66 percent both from the presidential and vice-presidential discretionary funds remained unliquidated. The receipts for the amount, she said, are with Reyman Sy, the SG office manager last semester.
The total amount of receipts that were given by Sy is Php 1,797, which is 34 percent of Php 5,272, the total receipts that he must submit for liquidation.
“[Sy] gave me the receipts last Monday and now he has already a remaining liquidation of Php3,475. I texted him…but there’s still no response, but he told us that he’ll be giving it to us within the week,” Pino said.
Flores asked the Finance Committee if Sy was aware of the deadline and asked why Sy did not commit to the deadline.
“Yes, we at SURE [party] have been really pressuring [Sy] on complying, but for his part that is already out of our control. His presence is already out of our control. We have been doing our part,” Rep. Gil Buenavista from the College of Business Administration answered.
According to Buenavista, Sy was recognized as office manager for the first semester, the person who has been managing the SUSG office and the person purchasing office supplies. However, Sy was not enrolled this school year.
In an interview, Sy said that Pino has been asking for the receipts since the end of the first semester.
“I got busy pre and post-Hibalag, and I was hoping that I could still find [the receipts] in my boarding house. Personally, akong sala na nawala ang receipts. I’m accountable to it,” Sy said.
Rep. Josh Elloso from the College of Arts and Sciences said that the SUSG cannot have any hold at Sy because Sy is not enrolled.
Section 1 and 2 of Article III in the SUSG Constitution states that all those officially enrolled in Silliman can hold positions or be members in the student government. A student will automatically lose membership once s/he withdraws his/her enrolment in the university.
SUSG President Kirk Emperado said that Sy wasn’t enrolled for the whole school year because his family is moving to Canada. He regarded Sy “not just as an office manager,” but also as a secretary.
He added that even if Sy was not enrolled, he asked permission to Sir Abe Cadeliña, the officer-in-charge of the Student Organizations and Activities Division. The deal he had with the representatives is that Sy will only be office manager for the first semester.
“I never even stepped inside the office after the first semester,” Sy said in an interview.
Flores said in the special meeting that a lot of Executive Committee (ExeCom) members “are feeling the burden” of not having their cash advances signed by the Business and Finance office because the ExeCom members won’t be allowed to do so until the liquidations are complete.
Flores reminded the assembly that accountability and transparency must be demanded from people who handle student matters.
“The students have all the right in the world to know everything that is happening, to have their money continuously scrutinized as to where it goes, as to how it is spent and how it is being liquidated and that it is actually spent in the right appropriations,” Rep. Flores said.
For the presidential and vice-presidential funds, the Php 1000 that was charged directly to SUSG Vice President Nikko Calledo was already liquidated. Pino said that Calledo’s part in the vice-presidential discretionary fund was cleared.
For the Environmental Committee, Calledo liquidated the Php 7,000 fund for Environment Committee’s event “Environment Encounter.” Calledo will yet liquidate the Php 2,000 for the event “Say it, Wear it.”
Pino added that Calledo still lacks Php1,800 because “the total amount needed for that event was Php3800…[but] he doesn’t have the Php 1,800 to pay for what he spent for, that’s why he still can’t get the official receipt. He only gave Php 2,000.”
Calledo said in an interview last Jan. 24 that he already has the receipts from BBL Quick Print Services amounting to Php 3,800.
He added that some representatives did not confront him personally and ask him about the “real story.”
Calledo said that he paid Php 2,000 to BBL Quick Print Services last September. The allotted budget for the committee was Php 2,000; the total amount spent by the committee was Php 3,800.
According to Calledo, the store didn’t give the receipts until he paid the whole amount. He had a debt of Php 1,800.
“Nangutang ko’g Php 1,800 sa akong manghod. I paid already and got the receipts,” he said.
He paid the full amount last Friday, Jan. 22.
