The Commission on Audit (COA) has revealed that the Municipality of Kawit, Cavite has been suffering poor performance in revenue collection for Calendar Years 2018 and 2019, resulting in a substantial cash deficit totalling P212.3 Million.

According to the COA report, Kawit incurred under-collections of P127,609,754.43 in 2018 and P84,788,879.49 in 2019 from projected local revenue sources.

The municipality’s actual revenue collection fell far short of estimates, according to COA.

In 2018, only 44.47% of the projected P229,791,919.51 was realized, leaving a balance of P127,609,754.43, COA found.

COA bared that the situation improved slightly in 2019, with 63.10% of the projected revenue collected, but still resulted in a shortfall of P84,788,879.49.

The report highlighted that while tax revenues underperformed, there was an unexpected increase in “Other Income and Receipts” for both years, exceeding projections by P5,718,954.07 in 2018 and P8,483,555.65 in 2019.

As of December 31, 2019, Kawit faced a cash deficit of P81,593,610.40 in addition to the P127.3 Million in 2018.

The deficit was partly attributed to non-realization of projected income in 2018, with some collections from 2019 used to cover the previous year’s deficiency.

The COA noted that this cash deficit trend has persisted for several years due to Mayor Aguinaldo’s consistent poor ability to meet yearly projected income targets.

The audit report suggests that local officials should use actual income data from recent years to guide future budget preparations, as demonstrated by the increasing trend in local source revenues from 2017 to 2019.

This financial situation raises concerns about the municipality’s fiscal management and its ability to provide essential services to residents.

Kawit officials will need to address these revenue collection issues to ensure the financial stability of Kawit in the coming years, COA said.