JOE BOWS TO COA ORDER Refund may be thru salary deduction

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BY CAROLYN JANE ABELLO
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ILOILO City – How should city government officials and employees refund the P46.4 million of the Productivity Enhancement Incentive (PEI) they received in 2009 as ordered by the Commission on Audit (COA)?

Two possible refund schemes were salary deduction and deduction from the retirement pay, according to Mayor Jose Espinosa III.

City government officials and employees each received P30,000 PEI in 2009 during the term of then mayor Jerry Treñas.

In a recent decision, COA’s central office found no merit in the petition for review filed by Treñas’ successor then Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog on COA Region 6’s ruling upholding the Notice of Disallowance it issued against the 2009 PEI.

“We will comply,” said Espinosa.

But first, the mayor wants to make sure if the city government still has other legal options available to challenge COA’s ruling.

“We will check if it is final and if it has discrepancies,” he said.

Espinosa, a lawyer, added that while the city government may still go to court, they would assess if they have other valid arguments.

The mayor was also unsure how to go about collecting the refund from city officials and employees who were no longer connected with the city government since 2009.

State auditors computed that P46,424,328.24 of the 2009 PEI released was in excess of the Personal Services limitation of the city government.

To avoid a repetition of the COA disallowance, Espinosa said that since he assumed office he made sure there were pronouncements and circulars to serve as bases for the release of additional benefits to employees.

Last month, the city government released P5,000 as PEI of each city hall employee and P12,000 under the collective negotiations agreement.

In disallowing the P46.4 million in the 2009 PEI, COA said only P3,228,671.76 was available to the city government for such, based on the computation of its 45 percent Personal Services limitation.

It also ruled against the reversion of the P31,431,648 calamity fund to the unappropriated surplus for the purpose of using it for the PEI. This was contrary to law, it stressed.

Any unexpended balance of the calamity fund at the end of the current year shall revert to the unappropriated surplus for re-appropriation during the succeeding budget year, stressed COA, citing the Local Government Code./PN
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