THE Commission on Audit (COA) has granted the appeal of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) as it reversed its January 24, 2022 decision affirming 19 Notices of Disallowance (NDs) issued against the unauthorized payment of bonuses totaling P192.19 million in 2014.
Voting 2-1, the COA en Banc ruled that there is no longer any basis to sustain the disallowance against the payment of the Achievement Bonus to officials and employees of CAAP.
COA chairperson Gamaliel A. Cordoba and Commissioner Mario G. Lipana voted in favor of lifting the disallowance, while Commissioner Roland Café Pondoc submitted the lone dissent.
The majority held that the absence of prior approval from the Office of the President was the main reason why the achievement bonuses were disallowed but this was addressed by the April 29, 2016 memorandum issued by then executive secretary Paquito Ochoa.
“The payment of Achievement Bonus for 2014 was disallowed principally on the ground that it was granted without authority. In this case, since the Executive Secretary issued a post facto approval, the defect of the absence of authority to grant the Achievement Bonus is cured,” the COA said.
In the assailed ruling, the COA Commission Proper declared the bonus as an “irregular expenditute” since the P192.19 million was not included in CAAP’s corporate operating budget.
CAAP invoked its fiscal autonomy which supposedly gives its Board of Directors leeway in fixing the compensation of its officers and officials, adding that the extra pay came from its operational savings from its corporate budget.
The COA however sustained the stand of the audit team that CAAP’s fiscal autonomy and the authority of its Board of Directors to set the compensation and benefits are not sufficient legal bases to grant the extra bonus due to the lack of prior approval from the Office of the President.
At the same time, it noted that the bonus was paid to CAAP officials and employees mid-2014 hence the fund source could not have come from supposed savings as none could be declared until the end of the fiscal year.
