Read this first
Naa'y tulo ka klase nga statement kini nga guide, and they do not carry the same weight.
- National rule — the Local Government Code and the procurement law. These apply to every LGU and do not change from town to town.
- How this kiosk behaves — what the screens in front of you actually do. This is observable; you can verify any of it yourself.
- What only Lakewood can answer — the Appropriation Ordinance for this year, which supporting documents the Accountant requires for each expense, procurement thresholds, and every peso figure. These are marked confirm locally.
Do not quote this page as an authority. It is a working guide for filing documents correctly, not a legal or accounting opinion. When a Budget Officer, Accountant, Treasurer, or COA auditor says otherwise, they are right and this page is out of date — and the correct answer is always "let me confirm that with the Budget Office" rather than a guess.
1. The four gates money passes
If you remember only one thing on this page, remember this order. An accountant will assume you know it, and every question they ask sits somewhere on it.
Two consequences worth saying out loud, because people get them wrong:
- An appropriation is not cash. An office can have appropriation left and still not be paid, because the treasury has no collections yet. Different gate.
- An obligation is not a payment. A certified OBR means the money is committed and reserved. The supplier is still not paid until the DV clears.
2. Where PR and OBR sit
| Question | Purchase Request (PR) | Obligation Request (OBR) |
|---|---|---|
| What is it for? | To say what the office wants to buy, and why. | To commit the appropriation for a specific claim. |
| Which world? | Procurement. It starts the purchase and feeds the BAC's work. | Budget and accounting. It is the entry into the obligation records. |
| Does it reserve money? | Not when filed. The reservation begins when the Budget Office accepts the PR (see section 9). | Yes — once certified, it is a binding commitment. |
| Which comes first? | Normally the PR, when the need is identified. | The OBR, when the obligation is about to be incurred. |
| Official form shape | Six ruled columns: Item No, Qty, Unit, Item Description, Unit Cost, Cost. | Five ruled columns: Responsibility Center, Particulars, Source of Fund, Account Item, Amount. |
| What this kiosk files | A draft. It moves no money. | A DRAFT. It moves no money until the Budget Office certifies it. |
The distinction an accountant will test you on: a PR does not obligate. Only a certified OBR does. If someone says "naka-PR na man ta, reserved na" — that is wrong, and saying so correctly is the fastest way to show you understand the chain.
3. Who certifies what
This is the heart of the whole process, and it is national rule — the same in every municipality.
Under the Local Government Code of 1991 (RA 7160):
- Section 305(a) — no money is paid out of the local treasury except in pursuance of an appropriations ordinance or law.
- Section 344 — before disbursement, three separate officials must each act: the Local Budget Officer certifies that an appropriation exists which was legally made for that purpose; the Local Accountant obligates the appropriation and confirms the supporting documents are complete; and the Local Treasurer certifies that funds are available.
Those three acts are deliberately given to three different people. It is a separation of duties, not paperwork — which is exactly why no one at a kiosk can do any of them.
How that maps onto the OBR form
| Box | Who signs | What they are certifying | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | Head of the requesting office | The charge is necessary, lawful, and incurred under their direct supervision. | On filing. |
| B | Budget Officer | Existence of available appropriation for the purpose. | Before the obligation is recorded. This is what lifts the record out of DRAFT. |
| C | Accountant | The obligation is recorded, and the supporting documents are complete. | After Box B. |
Confirm locally: the exact box lettering and layout follow the Obligation Request / Obligation Request and Status form version your Accounting Office currently uses. The roles above are fixed by law; the form version is not. Ask Accounting which one is in force before printing a batch.
4. When to file each one
| Moment | What you file | Why then |
|---|---|---|
| The office decides it needs something | Purchase Request | Procurement cannot start without it. Ideally the item is already in the office's procurement plan for the year — confirm locally with the BAC Secretariat whether yours is. |
| A supplier, contract, payroll, or valid claim is about to bind the LGU | OBR | This is the moment the obligation is incurred. Filing earlier reserves money you may not use; filing later means the LGU was committed with nothing recorded — that is the finding an auditor writes up. |
| The claim is due for payment | Disbursement Voucher (not in this kiosk) | Payment is a separate act with its own certification by the Treasurer. |
The most common mistake: raising an OBR after the goods were already delivered or the service already rendered, to make the paperwork catch up. The obligation existed the moment the LGU became bound. Late recording is a real audit finding, and it is the requesting office that has to explain it.
Year-end
Appropriations do not live forever. Unobligated balances generally lapse at the close of the fiscal year, while some appropriations are continuing and behave differently. Which of your lines are which, and the cut-off dates for filing near year-end, are confirm locally — the Budget Office issues that schedule every year.
5. Say it the way they say it
The same idea in two vocabularies. Using the right column is most of what "sounding like you know it" actually is.
| What you might say | Say this instead | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| the budget | appropriation | The legal authority to spend, fixed by the Appropriation Ordinance. |
| the money is set aside | obligated | Committed against an appropriation. Reserved, not yet paid. |
| how much is left | unobligated balance | Appropriation less obligations already incurred. |
| what kind of expense | object of expenditure / expense class | PS Personnel Services · MOOE Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses · CO Capital Outlay · FE Financial Expenses. |
| the account number | account code | The chart-of-accounts code, e.g. 5-02-13-030. It says what
kind of expense this is, in the government's own coding. |
| which office | Responsibility Center | The office accountable for the charge — MEO, MSWDO, MDRRMO and so on. |
| moving budget around | realignment / augmentation from savings | Shifting appropriation. Needs its own authority — never done by a requester. |
| the leftover from a vacant position | savings | Only becomes usable through a lawful realignment with the required authority. |
| the paper trail | supporting documents | What the Accountant requires before obligating. The list differs by expense type — confirm locally. |
6. Field by field
Purchase Request
| Field | What goes in it | Gotcha |
|---|---|---|
| Fund | Which fund pays. General Fund (100) unless the item belongs to a special fund. | Changing the fund invalidates a charge already picked — the kiosk will make you choose again on purpose. |
| Office / Section | Your requesting office. | Set once in ① Requester details; it carries into both forms. |
| Purpose | What is being bought and why, in plain words. | This is the text everyone searches on months later. Write it for a stranger, not for yourself. |
| Item No / Qty / Unit | One row per distinct item. | Unit means the unit of issue — pc, box, lot, unit. |
| Item Description | What the thing actually is. | Searchable. "Laptop" finds it later; "supplies" does not. |
| Unit Cost / Cost | Cost is computed for you. | Estimates at PR stage are normal; the OBR carries the figure that binds. |
| Charge source (kiosk aid) | Which budget line pays for this item. | Sits outside the six official columns and never prints — the official Annex 30 form must stay exactly six ruled columns. |
Obligation Request
| Field | What goes in it | Gotcha |
|---|---|---|
| Payee | Who will be paid. | Never used as a search key in the public register — payee and address are deliberately kept out of it. |
| Responsibility Center | The accountable office. | Column 1 of the official five. |
| Particulars | What the obligation is for. | Column 2. This is what the Accountant reads and what search matches. Be specific. |
| Source of Fund | The charge — the primary line, every additional charge, its exact amount, and any supporting resolution. | Column 3. Everything about where the money comes from lives here, so the official form alone is enough to see the full allocation. |
| Account Item | The account title and code. | Column 4. The account says what kind of expense; the Source of Fund says whose budget pays. |
| Amount | The exact peso amount for that row. | Column 5. The rows must total the document. The kiosk flags it when they don't. |
7. When the line is short — "Deficit"
If the budget line you picked cannot cover the amount, the kiosk marks a Deficit and lists the other accounts that still have an available balance, with the exact amount each one can carry. You pick from that list; the choice is recorded as an additional charge inside the Source of Fund cell.
- Only accounts with a real available balance are offered. Proposed or unconfirmed funding is never treated as available.
- Charging another office's budget line is flagged as a different-office source and requires written authority. The kiosk records your reference; it does not grant the authority.
- A supporting resolution reference can be attached to the charge. The kiosk stores what you type without validating it — the Budget Office verifies it.
Never adjust a figure to make a line fit. If the amount is right and the balance is short, that is a real finding that belongs in front of the Budget Office — not something to be smoothed over on the form. Changing the number to match the balance is the one mistake an auditor will find fastest.
8. Finding a transaction
Open the kiosk, scroll to PR / OBR transactions and funding sources, press Open transaction details. Everything below happens in that one search box.
| You know… | Do this |
|---|---|
| The PR or OBR number | Type it. If nothing appears, tick Search all fiscal years under More search options — the number was probably filed in another year. |
| Only the item | Type the item name, e.g. laptop. Item descriptions and OBR
particulars are both searched. |
| The item and the office | Type both: laptop MEO. Every word has to match the same
document, so two words narrow it hard. |
| A phrase | Use quotes: "flood control" keeps the words together. |
| The date | Type 2026-07-29, or set Date from and Date to. |
| Roughly how much it was | Set Amount from and Amount to, then sort by largest amount. |
| Only that it is not yet certified | Set Status to Draft — not yet certified. |
| Which budget line it hit | Open the record, then press Open source ledger on any funding source. |
| You need it on paper | Print current filter or Export current filter to Excel. Both cover exactly the rows you searched, and both print the filter that produced them. |
The result line always says "Showing N of M matching transactions". If N is less than M, you are looking at a page, not the whole answer — press Load more transactions before concluding anything from what is on screen.
9. Sulod sa Budget Office — unsay buhaton sa na-file
Human ma-file sa kiosk, ang PR ug OBR moadto sa Budget Office queue. Kini ang exact nga steps didto, ug asa sila makita.
Tan-aw lang — walay login
- Open the Budget Office System (
/budget-office) → Office Operations. - Ang PR and OBR Transaction Register didto — same records sa kiosk search, read-only, with every grouped charge source. Ang quick buttons sa taas: Transactions, PR Register, OBR Register, Balances, Source Ledger, Account Ledgers, General Ledger, RAAO, SAOOB.
- Walay ma-accept o ma-certify dinhi — review only ang tanan niini nga screen.
Para sa na-file nga PR — acceptance
- Login una. Ang acceptance kinahanglan og Budget Office account nga naay accept capability — dili tanan naka-login makahimo.
- Sa sidebar, adto sa Budget Execution →, then tab ② Purchase Request (PR).
- Ang Pending PR acceptance queue — kompleto ni bisan unsa ang selected Period Covered, so walay kiosk draft nga matago.
- I-check ang live balance, then press Accept PR ug i-confirm. Kini ang moment nga ma-reserve ang amount against its charge lines — the system re-checks the balance again under lock before it commits.
Para sa OBR — obligation ug certification
Side by side na ang PR ug OBR: matag PR nga ma-file sa kiosk, auto-generated ang companion OBR (DRAFT) uban niini — same funding charges, same amounts, linked. Kung dili ma-save ang PR (Deficit nga walay covering charge, or kulang ang details), walay bisan unsa nga document nga ma-file — no PR, no OBR. Ug kung ma-disapprove ang request, usa ka Cancel / Disapprove sa Pending PR queue ang mo-cancel sa pair nga magkuyog, with the decision reason recorded sa audit trail.
- Tab ③ Obligation (OBR).
- Ang companion OBR sa matag kiosk PR naa na sa Pending OBR certification → press Certify OBR. Kini ang Box B — existence of available appropriation. Ang linked PR ma-complete automatic uban sa certification — usa ka lihok, human ang pair.
- Accepted PR nga ready na i-commit? Pwede gihapon ang box "Naay na-save nga PR? I-obligate diretso dinhi" → press Obligate. Converting releases the PR's reservation ug i-record ang same amount as a commitment — the balance never moves twice, ug ang companion draft awtomatik nga ma-cancel para walay duplicate.
- Direct OBR nga walay PR (e.g. Personal Services)? I-file kini sa kiosk OBR tab, then Certify OBR ra gihapon.
- Ang resulta makita sa OBR Register, sa Registry (RAAO), ug sa source ledger sa matag line nga gi-charge. Ang bayad mo-continue sa Disbursement Voucher — lahi na nga office ug lahi nga certification.
Kinsa'y makahimo: ang kiosk never certifies; ang requester never accepts; ang Budget Officer ra ang mo-Box B. Mao kini ang separation of duties nga gi-explain sa section 3 — the system enforces it per account capability.
Confirm locally: kinsa nga accounts ang naay accept ug certify capability, ug ang SOP kung kanus-a dawaton ang usa ka PR — ang Budget Office ang tag-iya niana nga decision, dili kini nga page.
10. If the Accountant asks you
Real questions, and answers that are true. Every one of these is safe to say because it does not claim anything you are not in a position to certify.
"Asa ni i-charge?"
Give four things, in this order: the office, the expense class, the account code, and the budget line. Open the record and read them off the Source of Fund and Account Item cells. Don't paraphrase — read the codes.
"May appropriation ba?"
"The Budget Office certifies that in Box B. What I can show you is the balance the line displayed when this was filed." Then open the source ledger. Never answer this one yourself — it is literally another official's certification.
"Na-obligate na ba?"
"It is still a DRAFT. Nothing is obligated until your office certifies it." The status is on the record; read it rather than remembering it.
"Asa gikan ang additional?"
"It is inside the Source of Fund cell, with the exact amount and the supporting reference the requester entered." Then show that cell — the official form carries it, so no side panel is needed.
"Ngano lahi ang office sa source?"
"It is flagged as a different-office source, which needs written authority. Here is the reference that was entered — your office verifies it."
"Nganong wala mo-tally ang total?"
Don't defend it. "The record itself flags that the charge total does not match the document total, and it says so on screen. It needs Budget Office review." The system already surfaces this rather than hiding it.
"Kinsa ang nag-file ani?"
"The kiosk stamps the typed name and office on the document and in the audit log." There are no portal accounts for office staff yet; identity is the declared name plus office.
The strongest thing you can say when you genuinely don't know is "I'd rather confirm that with the Budget Office than guess." No accountant has ever thought less of someone for that. They have thought a great deal less of people who guessed and were wrong.
11. Never do these
- Never say funds are available. Only the Treasurer certifies that, and only on the disbursement.
- Never say a kiosk filing is certified. It is a DRAFT until the Budget Office acts on it.
- Never treat the balance shown here as a certification. It is a reading at that moment, shown to help you choose — nothing more.
- Never change an amount to fit a balance. Raise the shortfall instead.
- Never split one purchase into smaller ones to stay under a threshold. That is splitting of contracts, and it is a finding on its own.
- Never charge another office's line without the written authority in hand.
- Never file an OBR to cover something already delivered without telling the Accountant that is what it is.
12. Who to ask, and where this comes from
| Ask them | About |
|---|---|
| Budget Office | Whether an appropriation exists, which budget line to charge, realignment, year-end cut-offs, the Appropriation Ordinance. |
| Accounting Office | Which supporting documents an expense needs, the current OBR form version, how the obligation is recorded. |
| Treasury | Whether cash is available, and when a claim can be paid. |
| BAC Secretariat | Procurement mode, thresholds, whether the item is in the approved procurement plan. |
Sources behind the national-rule parts of this guide
- Republic Act 7160, the Local Government Code of 1991 — especially Section 305 (fundamental principles of local fiscal administration) and Section 344 (certification and approval of vouchers).
- Republic Act 9184, the Government Procurement Reform Act, and its implementing rules — the procurement side that the Purchase Request begins.
- The Commission on Audit government accounting manuals for local government units, which prescribe the Obligation Request form and the registries the obligation is recorded in.
Section numbers and form versions are given so you can look them up, not so you can quote them from memory. Before relying on any of it in front of an auditor, confirm the current text and the version in force with your Budget or Accounting Office.