COA issues order to 31 GOCCs

Return bonuses, gov’t execs told
COA issues order to 31 GOCCs
By Cynthia D. Balana
Philippine Daily Inquirer

The Commission on Audit has ordered Officials and employees of 31 government-owned and -controlled corporations to refund the government all bonuses and allowances totaling P2.313 billion whose payment in 2012 was deemed unauthorized.

Officials and employees of 31 government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) have been ordered to refund the government all bonuses and allowances totaling P2.313 billion whose payment in 2012 was deemed unauthorized by the Commission on Audit (COA).

In its 2012 annual financial report on GOCCs, which was posted on its website recently, the COA named the top 10 GOCCs and the corresponding amounts to be returned:
1. Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), P1,651,084,000
2. Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), P216,801,000
3. Region 7 water districts, P186,584,000
4. Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, P54,829,000
5. Philippine Economic Zone Authority, P48,500,000
6. Home Development Mutual Fund, P37,636,000
7. Butuan City Water District, P28,243,000
8. Development Academy of the Philippines, P23,838,000
9. Philippine National Oil Co. Exploration Corp., P14,518,000
10. Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority, P14,406,000.

The COA report also admonished the following GOCCs for doing the same: Bases Conversion and Development Authority, Batangas Land Co. Inc., Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, Clark International Airport Corp., Human Settlements Development Corp., Lung Center of the Philippines, Manila Gas Corp., National Dairy Authority, National Development Co. (NDC), NDC-Phil. Infrastructure Corp., Overseas Workers Welfare Administration;

Philippine International Convention Center Inc., Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC), PNOC-Development and Management Corp., PNOC-Alternative Fuel Corp., Southern Utility Management and Services Inc., Trade Investment Development Corp. of the Philippines, Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority, Veterans Federation of the Philippines and Madrid Water District.

Without legal basis
According to the COA, these 31 GOCCs were found to have paid “bonus(es), allowances and benefits to the board of directors and employees without or in excess of legal basis or proper authority.”

In October last year, the COA ruled that unauthorized allowances, bonuses and other financial rewards totaling more than P1.447 billion were given to PhilHealth officials and employees in 2012.

It said the release of such incentives had no approval from the Office of the President and had no legal basis.

DBP’s excess payments
Disallowed pay given to DBP officials and employees came in the form of “performance incentive bonus” that went in excess of what it was authorized by the Governance Commission for GOCCs.

DBP had a total of 2,537 employees at the central office, 96 branches nationwide and four subsidiaries, the COA said.
Of the P216.8 million, DBP officials gave themselves P91.96 million while the rest of the amount was distributed to employees in the home office and branches.

The COA said DBP’s personal services expenditures in 2012 reached P2.501 billion, exceeding its authorized allocation by P224.228 million.

It also ordered the GOCCs to immediately discontinue the practice and “refund the excess compensation/allowances received.”

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bakit po kaya hindi tayo kasali dito he he

It's because our Bank always seeks approval for the bonuses and allowances from the government.

You are correct Atty Butong.  In addition, all our existing benefits were previously approved by PGMA and clearances from GCG plus COA were also sought prior to giving of other benefits.

That's why we don't get that much.  

If we get that much...much will be disallowed from us  

but then it is right to demand what we really deserve to have thus together we will all work this time to get it

LIKE

Bakit wala ang LBP dyan sa listahan? Very basic, kasi kahit rightly due na nga sa empleyado ay di pa ibinibigay. Antayin muna ang sangkatutak na kalampag kagaya ng increase sa PERA, IPP, etc. Yung ACA-PERA na hinihingi, ala pa nga kalinawan.

I heard that COA last year released the equivalent of its employees' 2-month salary? What is their legal basis? Kung walang basehan, sino ang mag audit sa kanila?

Meron pa po, this is reliable kasi kausap ko mismo yung COA Audito namin, ng pay out daw today ng P5000.00 across the board s kanila, na ang guidelines daw lahat ng gov't. agencies ay kasama dito including Landbank, and ang kanilang rice n tinatawag nilang commodity allowance ay P5000.00 per month in the form of cash not in kind at yung cnabi ni Blitz n binigay na 2 months salary ay confirmed na binigay din s kanila.

This is one of the moments that we can appreciate the prudence of management, and as one of its employees I am proud to be a Landbanker. I am sure that during those times that employees of these GOCCs have received these bonuses, curses in all dialects must have been thrown against LBP management, I may be one of them, but now we can heave a sigh of relief that we will not be burdened of repaying back.

this is something that we can be proud of and this is a good proof to show to President Aquino that
we have been compliant to all requirements before receiving a certain amount, no matter how small it is. We have been patient and waited for years for our benefits, yet we get no positive response from
the government,while other government agencies were unafraid of releasing unreasonable and baseless bonuses.with this, we have more reasons to demand the benefits already due to us because the records show that we receive less in the past years.  the malacanang should make proper distinction and we should not suffer from the wrongdoing and abuses of some gocc's. Let's just pray that the Lord will enlighten the mind of the President because in the end, the righteous will prevail.

In fact, we don't even know if indeed these releases are unauthorized because, as CGC has explained, the findings were reviewed and discussed with the GOCCs concerned and except three GOCCs, none of the other GOCCs covered in the COA report have been issued Notices of Disallowance. Masyado lang yata ang media mileage ng leadership ng COA to the point na puro sila press releases na wala namang positive results. Going back to the point earlier indicated, if these people are that righteous, ano pala ang legal basis nila sa pag disburse ng sinasabing P5,000.00 at 2-months salary recently? Dapat iopen din ito sa media para fair sa lahat.

Yesterday's news article featured in Manila Standard is worth reading. Please follow this link: http://manilastandardtoday.com/2014/01/16/goccs-bonuses-palace-washes-hands-of-issue/