Execs of Bangko Sentral’s PICC arm get ‘irregular’ perks — CoA

Contrary to what President Aquino has been trumpeting as his administration denying officials of state agencies fat allowances and bonuses, the Commission on Audit (CoA) in a recent report said officials of the Philippine International Convention Center Inc. (PICCI) which runs the state-owned Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) are receiving “irregular” per diems and reimbursable expenses between 2010 and 2011.

Even President Aquino’s PCSO officials have been found by the CoA to have given themselves fat allowances which were irregular.

The CoA recommended that the directors of the state firm reimburse the disallowed benefits.

PICCI is a body created under the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the benefits that its directors received, according to CoA, were in excess of limits provided under the law.

The PICCI board of directors was granted per diems and reimbursable expenses of P702,000 for 2011 and P593,000 for 2010 “without the approval of the President,” according to the CoA report.

The state firm’s directors also incurred P89,500 and P462,200 in excess of the limits provided in Executive Order 24 which provided a standard on the pay and perks provided officials of state agencies and RA No. 10149 or the Government-owned and controlled corporation (GOCC) Governance Act, respectively, resulting in an “irregular expenditure.”

The CoA stated that under section 6 of EO 24, GOCCs’ classification for the purpose of determining the maximum allowable compensation for members of state agencies’ board of directors and trustees “shall be reviewed, evaluated, and recommended by the Department of Finance (DoF) for approval by the President.”

The CoA report noted that before the issuance of EO 24, members of the PICCI Board received a representation allowance of P10,000 per month; per diem of P9,000 per board meeting; and per diem of P9,500 per Executive Committee (ExCom) meeting.
After the EO was issued, members of the PICCI board during a meeting on Aug. 31, 2011 approved their entitlement to per diems and reimbursable expenses based on Classification E or a per diem of P5,000 for each board meeting and P3,000 for each ExCom meeting attended; and reimbursable expenses not exceeding P15,000 every month incurred in attending board and ExCom meetings.

It added that on Oct. 25, 2011, the PICCI directors in another meeting approved the proposed Guidelines on the Reimbursable Expenses of the members of the PICCI board that provided for the reimbursable expenses will cover those incurred in the performance of official functions; the unexpended balance for a particular month may be availed during the following month; and the aggregate amount of reimbursable expenses in a year shall not exceed P180,000.

The CoA said, however, the classification of PICCI under Category E was not submitted to the DoF for review, evaluation, and recommendation and to the President for approval.

“Neither were the rates of per diems and reimbursable expenses recommended for approval to the President, contrary to section 23 of RA No. 10149,” it added.

“Records revealed that per diems in board meetings of P325,000, ExCom meetings of P79,500 and reimbursable expenses of P297,620, totaling P0.702 million, were granted to the members of the board for the year 2011 without the requisite approval of the President. Out of these expenses, there were also payments on per diems and allowances to the members of the board in excess of the limits provided in EO 24,” the CoA added.

The CoA said that in 2010, the PICCI also granted per diems, allowances, bonuses and fringe benefits for the period September 8 to December 2010 to the previous PICCI directors totaling P593,000 when these were suspended except for reasonable per diems, pursuant to EO No. 7 until Dec.31, 2010, and EO No. 19 extending suspension until January 31, 2011.

The CoA found an excess in the limits provided for under Sections 9 and 10 of EO No. 24 amounting to P462,200.

In its recommendations regarding the diallowed benefits, the PICCI should secure from Aquino the requisite approval of the classification adopted by PICCI and rates of per diems and reimbursable expenses upon the recommendation of the DOF and the Governance Commission for GOCCs (GCG); withhold disbursements on the directors’ compensation pending the approval of the President; and refund the per diems, allowances and incentives in excess of the limits provided under EO 24 and RA No. 10149.

According to CoA, the BSP under its general counsel, insisted that PICCI does not need to wait for recommendation from Department of Finance (DoF) on the benefits provided to its directors and that they applied the limit prescribed by EO 24 on per diem and allowances.

The CoA countered, however, that former members of the board continued to receive per diem and allowances during the period September until December 2010 and January to February 2011 based on the opinion of BSP General Counsel that PICCI is not covered by EO No. 7.

The CoA, however, said it is firm in its view that EO 24 covers government-owned or controlled corporations and government financial institutions.

“PICCI is a government-owned corporation, being 100 per cent owned by BSP. The excess per diems would be subject to issuance of a Notice of Disallowance, which in the meantime is held in abeyance, pending approval by the President and recommendation by the DOF and GCG of its classification as Category E with the corresponding rates of per diems and reimbursable expenses,” the CoA said in its report. –Chito Lozada, Daily Tribune