THE Commission on Audit has affirmed the lifting of disallowance against the payment of salaries of two former officials of the Office of Transportation Security (OTS), who continued to serve in their respective positions despite having filed their courtesy resignations after a change in the administration.
In a seven-page decision released last week, the COA Commission Proper approved the findings of the COA National Government Sector that said former OTS deputy administrator Roberto Villanueva and OTS director Maria Delia Presquito are entitled to full compensation for continuing to discharge the functions of their office while waiting for decision on their courtesy resignation.
Records showed Villanueva was appointed as acting deputy administrator of OTS in 2012 by then President Benigno S. Aquino III but was told to secure a renewal of his appointment when the original one expired on August 16, 2013.
However, his request for a new appointment was not acted upon even if the Department of Transportation issued several special orders designating him as officer-in-charge of the OTS whenever the administrator goes on official leave.
Presquito, on the other hand, is a career civil service official who was appointed as acting Director IV of the OTS in April 2014. Since the new post required a career service eligibility, her appointment remained pending subject to CES requirements.
She assumed the new post on April 16, 2014 and successfully passed the CES examination on June 7, 2015 although she still had to hurdle three other stages of the CES eligibility — assessment, performance validation, and board review.
The audit team assigned to the OTS issued notices of disallowance against the payment of salaries and allowances of the two officials on the ground that they were considered “irregular expenditures” in the absence of proof that the temporary appointments were renewed.
Villanueva tendered his courtesy resignation on June 30, 2016 while Presquito submitted hers on August 24, 2016.
However, the COA noted that there was no record that their resignations were acted upon by the Office of the President.
In its decision, the COA CP upheld the lifting of the disallowance on Presquito’s pay totaling P1.024 million for 2014 and P1.583 million for 2015 and 2016.
Likewise, the ND against Villanueva’s pay totaling P3.49 million was set aside.
“Ms. Presquito and Mr. Villanueva whose terms of office had already expired may be allowed to continue to occupy their positions and perform their functions in holdover capacity until such time that their successors are appointed by the President, or they are removed by him,” the Commission said.
It pointed out that allowing public officials to continue on holdover capacity is founded on consideration of public policy.
“The law abhors a vacuum in public offices. The principle of holdover is specifically intended to prevent public convenience from suffering because of a vacancy and to avoid a hiatus in the performance of government functions. In view of all the foregoing, Mr. Villanueva and Ms. Presquito are therefore entitled to the salaries and allowances,” the COA added.