A JANITORIAL firm’s P751,000 claim against the Senate for compensation of unpaid overtime work from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2014 and January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2017 has been granted by the Commission on Audit (COA).
In a decision, the COA Commission Proper held that Philcare Manpower Services Inc. is entitled to compensation for services rendered by its janitorial staff to the various offices, bureaus, committees, and service units of the Senate.
The said offices requested the overtime services for the cited periods, and these were approved by the Senate Secretary.
Sought for comment, Senate Secretary Renato Bantug said he has yet to get a copy of the COA report ordering the Senate to pay the unpaid overtime of the janitors dating back 2014.
“I’m waiting for a report from our administrative and financial services,” Bantug said.
He said once he receives the copy, he will discuss the matter with Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri and wait for his instructions.
Philcare said it paid its janitors the wages due to them but was unable to collect payment from the Senate after it encountered delays in gathering the individual Daily Time Records (DTRs) of the workers who rendered overtime work.
In turn, the Senate had trouble releasing the checks to pay Philcare since the approved overtime rates were unbooked obligations, hence had no budgetary allocations.
On May 13, 2015, then Senate Secretary Oscar Yabes requested permission from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to charge the unbooked OT services against that year’s appropriations but this was denied for being unconstitutional.
The Senate and the DBM next petitioned the COA to allow the release of payment, but this was also rejected on the ground that they were not the real parties in interest of the petition.
On December 12, 2018, the Philcare filed its petition asking the commission to authorize payment of its employees’ overtime work adding that it had fully complied with the submission of all required support documents.
The Senate did not contest the claim.
“Clearly, the contracts intend that OT services should be compensated as mandated by labor law. Therefore, Philcare’s money claim should be granted since its janitors rendered OT services during the months of December 2014, November and December 2016, and December 2017, which were sufficiently supported by document,” the COA declared.
It noted that there was no question that the claim was valid since the Senate admitted that it has yet to pay Philcare for the overtime of its janitorial staff.
Considering that Philcare’s claim’s is duly supported with documents and it has been acknowledged by the Senate and favorably recommended by the Cluster Director 35, this Commission grants this petition in the total gross amount of P751,302.53 less the mandatory deductions,” the COA said. — With Raymond Africa
