MANILA - The Commission on Audit praised the Marawi City government for its “"accomplishments" in 2018 through its various infrastructure projects amounting to P853.719 million, most of which are already completed.

Projects such as construction of multi-purpose livelihood centers and temporary shelters, as well as road concreting and installation of street lights were completed and were validated by the audit team, according to the 2018 annual audit report on the city government.

State auditors also noted that tax and revenue collections increased in 2018 at P6.240 million, higher by 63% or P2.400 million from 2017 collections amounting to P3.840 million.

The city was decimated from May to October 2017 during the anti-terrorism campaign of the military against Islamic extremists, which ended in the deaths of militant leaders Omar Maute and Isnilon Hapilon.

A year after the war, among the significant collection was in real property and special education taxes which increased by almost P1 million.

Business activity however appeared to be a continuing challenge as total business tax was lower in 2018 with only P677,870, down from P1.928 million in 2017.

The audit team however noted that assets of the city such as properties and equipment valued at P1.809 billion “were not ascertained” due to incomplete physical count and non-maintenance of ledger cards destroyed during the war.

“Management commented that an Inventory Committee was already set up to conduct the required physical count of its properties and is doing its best to identify the damaged properties particularly those located in the most affected areas during the battle of Marawi.

A copy of the report was received by the office of mayor Majul Gandamra on June 28, 2019.

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