.jpg "9ae32_coa(1)"){kind=small}
The Commission on Audit has cleared former Ilocos Norte governor Imee Marcos now a senator, of any culpability of disallowance for granting an P11.98-million productivity enhancement incentive (PEI) in 2014 to provincial officials and employees.
In a five-page decision, the COA’s Commission Proper ordered the notice of disallowance lifted, citing there was no ground to declare the cash incentives “excessive” since local government units are not covered by the P5,000 cap imposed under the Department of Budget and Management Circular No. 2014-3.
COA chairman Michael Aguinaldo and commissioner Roland Pondoc clarified that the P5,000 PEI limit only applied to “employees in the national government, i.e. the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, other offices vested with fiscal autonomy, and GOCCs (government-owned or controlled corporations) including GFIs (government financial institutions).
DBM made the PEI of local government employees subject only to limitations in the LGU’s personnel services and budget so that they were allowed to grant higher amounts if revenues exceed annual expenditures, COA said.
“It is clear from the aforequoted provisions that employees of LGUs have been singled out from the rest of government employees insofar as the cap is concerned. It is evident that the P5,000 limit does not apply to them. It only applies to employees in the national government,” it added.
A notice of disallowance was issued on March 26, 2015 after Ilocos Norte province released PEI of P10,000 for officials and employees.
By the audit team’s calculations, the excess totaled P11.98 million.
Also held culpable were then provincial treasurer Josephine Calajate, provincial accountant Eden Batulayan, and several officials and employees who received the cash incentive.
Marcos filed the petition for review on behalf of the provincial government on September 20, 2016 and the COA eventually lifted the disallowance red-flag on her as the then governor of the province.
