KEEP the cork on the bubbly and watch the holiday spending.
There’s no telling when this year’s windfall could turn out to be a big headache down the road.
In 2023, the Commission on Audit hit five government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) with orders to refund close to half a billion in disallowed Christmas gifts, year end bonuses, and allowances paid to their officials and employees as far back as 2009.
The seven decisions were all signed in 2023 but released only in 2024 after the creation of the COA Decisions and Issuances Information System (CDIIS), an online repository of the rulings of the Commission En Banc.
Ordered to return the fattened paychecks were the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), the Social Security System (SSS), the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), and the National Housing Authority (NHA).
The SSS and the PCSO were each hit with adverse rulings twice.
COA Chair Gamaliel Cordoba and Commissioners Roland Café Pondoc, in four separate rulings issued on March 22, 2023, threw out the appeal of the PEZA, SSS-Mindanao North, GSIS Board of Trustees, and SSS-Luzon North for the lifting of the disallowance.
In PEZA’s case, the Commission affirmed its previous ruling that disallowed Christmas gifts paid out in 2012 to personnel of the Baguio City Economic Zone (BCEZ) amounting to P2 million, to Cavite Economic Zone (CEZ) amounting to P3.05 million, and Mactan Economic Zone (MEZ) amounting to P4.75 million.
Executives and rank and file employees of SSS Mindanao North Division, on the other hand, were required to repay P12.4 million worth of gift certificates distributed as part of the 2010 Christmas celebrations.
Likewise, former members of the GSIS Board of Trustees were told to refund P73.09 million Christmas bonus and incentives, P12.2 million Christmas representation allowances, P13.58 million 15th month pay, and P22.47 million in yearend bonus. These sums were paid in 1999 and 2010.
The COA reminded the GSIS BOT that the “GSIS funds are not private funds.”
“The funds are imbued with public interest because they come from the contributions of its members. As held by the Supreme Court (SC) in the case of GSIS vs. COA, GSIS is bound to keep in trust the money belonging to its members, who are not limited to its employees,” the Commission pointed out.
Personnel of SSS Luzon North were also told to pay back the state pension fund Christmas gift totaling P5.46 million. The agency paid each official and employee P40,000 even if they were each entitled to just P10,000.
The Commission cautioned the SSS management to bear in mind that the main source of its corporate operating budget “is the contribution of its members,” and thus, should be “managed and protected with utmost integrity.”
In a second batch of three decisions dated July 27, 2023, the COA en banc upheld disallowances issued against the PCSO and the NHA.
PCSO officials and employees were told to refund P42.93 million in grocery bonuses released in 2012 and P111,521 Christmas bonus in 2011.
A separate decision, still on the PCSO, also required the return of the 2013 Christmas bonuses in the sum of P99.02 million and the Christmas grocery bonus of P39.3 million.
The COA referred the PCSO cases to the Office of the Ombudsman for investigation, noting “continuous violations of the laws and regulations.”
In the case of the NHA, agency personnel who received Christmas bonuses in 2008 and 2009 worth P71.45 million were told to return their share of the sum.
The COA has so far only issued nine decisions in 2024, none of them involving unauthorized or irregular compensation by GOCCs.
