‘Political gimmick at the expense of Capitol workers’

By Francis Allan L. Angelo

THE disallowance of last year’s P102.7-million Productivity Enhancement Incentive (PEI) to Iloilo provincial government workers is a bitter pill that must be swallowed, according to Gov. Arthur D. Defensor Sr.

Defensor said the bonus was a “political gimmick at the expense of the employees.”

“This is a lesson for us not to follow the previous administration’s actions. The employees will naturally bit the bait of a P50,000 bonus but they will be the ones to suffer the consequences of an illegal act,” he said.

In the Notice of Disallowance dated September 28, 2010 but was made public only yesterday, audit team leader Nilo Castigador said the provincial government under former governor Niel D. Tupas Sr. exceeded the personal service limitation of the 2009 annual budget when it granted P50,000 bonus per employee

COA stated that in their computation of the provincial government’s adherence to the cited regulations, “we observed that it had exceeded its personal services limitation by P38,701,198.90 prior to the granting of PEI.

COA said the payment of PEI to Capitol employees in 2009 constitutes an irregular and illegal transaction as defined under COA Circular No. 85-55A having violated Section 325(a) of Republic Act No. 7160 (Local Government Code) and Local Budget Circular No. 2009-93 dated December 17, 2009.

COA directed all the employees who received the 50,000 PEI last year to settle and refund the disallowed bonus.

Defensor said it will take some time before the provincial government can get back the disallowed bonus as concerned employees can still appeal the disallowance with COA up to the Supreme Court.

Defensor said they might adopt a refund scheme to avoid upsetting the employees’ salary.

He said they propose to withhold one-fourth of the employees’ 13th month pay this year.

For the rank-and-file employees, P200 will be deducted from their pay until they have refunded the disallowed bonus. Employees with higher salary grade will also have higher pay cuts.