Monday, May 28, 2007 10% deductions to help Mandaue officials make up for ‘overpayment’
ACTING Mandaue City Mayor Amadeo Seno Jr. is authorizing city accountant Eliseo Ledesma to make deductions from the salaries of elected city officials as partial payment for the alleged excess in salaries they received.
The deductions will be equivalent to 10 percent of their basic salaries.
The memorandum, dated May 2, said the payment is being done “under protest” considering that the officials still have a pending request for reconsideration before the Commission on Audit (COA).
In an interview yesterday, Seno told Sun.Star Cebu that before he signed the memorandum, he already talked to Ledesma about the matter.
When Ledesma receives the memorandum, the salaries of the officials for February, March and April that were withheld will be released with the 10-percent deduction.
So far, only Councilor Wenceslao Gakit hasn’t signed the memorandum.
Sought for comment, Gakit said he hasn’t read it yet. He added that he wasn’t able to receive his salary last March and April.
However, he also hasn’t secured a receipt to prove that the withheld salaries of the city officials were used to recoup the overpayments they received.
Early last February, Mayor Thadeo Ouano issued a memorandum ordering Ledesma to “recoup the amount representing the overpayments from each of the concerned members of the Sangguniang Panlungsod.”
But Seno wrote Ledesma and offered that instead of withholding the entire salaries of the presiding officer and members of the Mandaue City Council, at least 10 percent of their monthly salaries may be deducted every month.
Last April, Seno was appointed acting mayor when Ouano was preventively suspended by the Office of the Ombudsman for alleged involvement in the purchase of allegedly overpriced lampposts.
The COA, in an audit observation memorandum (AOM) dated Feb. 21, 2007, disallowed some P853,064 given to the City Council members from January to December 2006.
With that, overpayment of salaries, 13th month pay and monetization benefits for Seno and the 12 city councilors from 1999 to 2006 now amounts to P6.979 million.
COA said overpayment resulted when the officials received step increments that violated the Rules and Regulations Governing the Grant of Step Increments to Deserving Officials.
According to a COA computation, Seno got P28,955 instead of P24,359 as monthly salary, or a monthly overpayment of P4,596.
Each of the councilors, including the ex-officio members, received P27,842 instead of P23,422, or a monthly overpayment of P4,420. (AAG)
