Thursday, August 19, 2004 2003 Capitol P17M outlay By Jeanette P. Malinao Sun.Star Staff Reporter
THE Commission on Audit (COA) is asking the Cebu Provincial Government to explain the release of more than P17 million for the incentive bonus of employees in 2003.
COA, in an audit observation memorandum, said “there is no specific legal basis” in granting the collective negotiation agreement (CNA) incentive bonus of P12,000 to each worker.
The commission cited a Supreme Court decision dated July 11, 2002 against the signing bonus, “considering that it is a form of additional compensation prohibited under the Constitution.”
Audit team leader Nancy Aparri said in her audit observation memorandum that there was no proof savings were generated after the signing of the CNA. There is a rule that only 50 percent of the savings generated may be used for the CNA incentive.
Aparri added that only rank-and-file personnel are entitled to it.
But records show that former governor Pablo Garcia, former vice governor John Gregory Osmeña and members of the previous Provincial Board received the P12,000 bonus.
15 days
COA is giving Capitol 15 days to comment on the observations noted in the transaction. Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia said she has instructed Capitol’s legal department as well as fiscal managers to draft their answer.
The COA memorandum could settle the continuing debate over the release of the same bonus for 2004.
A Department of Budget and Management (DBM) ruling against it was issued, but the PB last Monday created an ad hoc committee to draft a position paper asking DBM to reconsider.
But former governor Pablo Garcia, now Capitol consultant on local government affairs, said that even if DBM reconsiders, and even if Capitol has money, the governor could still say no it because it is within her discretion.
Pablo also contradicted the stand of the board that the bonus is a contractual obligation, as it is covered by a collective negotiation agreement.
If Cebu Province considers the bonus as an obligation, the bonus would become part of the workers’ salaries, and Cebu would be different from other provinces, apart from violating the Salary Standardization Law, said the former governor.
Face-saving
“It is up to the governor to decide when to grant bonus even if it is authorized by any executive issuance,” said Pablo, governor of Cebu for the last nine years.
“(The ad hoc committee) is face-saving, pagwapo sa mga emple-yado. That’s the truth about it. They don’t want the workers to blame them,” he said in an interview Tuesday.
For her part, Governor Garcia said the COA memorandum only reinforces her stand to be “judicious” about decisions, especially regarding the release of people’s money.
“My stand has not wavered. We are constrained by existing rules. This further adds to my firm commitment that we public officials must act and decide in the most judicious and most legally tenable manner. We’ll have not only COA to account for, but also the public to answer to,” Garcia said in a press conference.
DBM 7 Director Car-mela Fernan had told Capitol officials that to release the bonus, the Province must enact a supplemental budget for it.
But a supplemental allocation cannot be approved without an annual budget. Because of a stalemate over the 2004 budget, Capitol is now operating on a reenacted budget.
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