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Friday, March 29, 2024

Pasay government told to return overpaid consultants’ work

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AT least 20 consultants employed by the Pasay City government must return P258,571.79 for overpaid services in 2010, according to the Commission on Audit.

CoA upheld a Sept. 8, 2011 notice of disallowance over the failure of Mayor Antonino Calixto and Maverick Sevilla of the city government's human resource management office to file a plea within the prescribed period of six months.

"Wherefore, premises considered, the petition for review is hereby dismissed for having been filed out of time," its decision read.

CoA's National Capital Region said the 20 consultants, 12 of whom were assigned at the city administrator's office, seven at the city mayor's office and one at the city treasury office, got an overpayment of their services as community and barangay affairs, peace and order, community affairs, barangay affairs, education affairs, local governance, legal matters, and revenue generation and tax collection consultants.

In 2015, Calixto and Sevilla filed a petition for review, urging CoA to allow them to reimburse the overpayments of their consultants, to no avail.

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CoA rejected the plea, saying it "lost jurisdiction to entertain" the petition when the the prescribed period lapsed.

On Sept. 9, 2011, the petitioners received a notice of disallowance from CoA, but appealed CoA's decision on March 2, 2012, or a total elapsed time of 173 days.

In addition, CoA-NCR issued an order of the return of the consultants' overpayments on June 25, 2015, but Calixto and Sevilla filed a petition for review with CoA's central office two months after, or on Aug. 25, 2015.

The commission gave the two respondents 180 days to file a plea under Section 48 of Presidential Decree No. 1445 and Section 3, Rule VII of the 2009 Revised Rules of Procedure of CoA.

"In the same vein, failure to perfect an appeal within the prescribed period is not a mere technicality but jurisdictional, and failure to perfect an appeal renders the judgment final and executory," the decision read.

"Appeal is not a matter of right but a mere statutory privilege. The party who seeks to exercise the right to appeal must comply with the requirements of the rules, failing in which the right to appeal is lost."

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