THE Commission on Audit has issued an en banc ruling directing the provincial government of Siquijor to release the unpaid wages of job order (JO) workers of the province dating back to November 2015 to June 2016 in the sum of P1,750,343.70.
In the same decision, the Commission denied the Motion for Reconsideration filed by former Governor Zaldy Villa seeking recall of the August 9, 2019 COA ruling that granted the workers’ claim.
Records showed that the workers were hired by Siquijor’s Legislative Department under then-Vice Governor Fernando Avanzado in 2015 and 2016.
Based on the petition filed by Avanzado with the COA, affected by the non-payment of wages were 90 workers hired in November and 239 in December, both in 2015.
Avanzado said the governor’s Office Memorandum No. 2015-ZSV-059 dated December 18, 2015, ordered the deferment of the processing and payment of JOs’ wages until the accurate amount of the excess general service expenses incurred by the Vice Governor’s Office is fully accounted for.
In the assailed decision, the COA upheld the authority of the Vice Governor to appoint officials and employees of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, saying it would be an encroachment of such authority for the governor to meddle in the affairs of the Sanggunian about its personnel.
It added that Villa’s Office Memorandum that deferred the payment of compensation to the JO workers “constitutes an undue interference with the functions of the Vice Governor and its office.”
In his MR, Villa claimed the Vice Governor had no legal personality to file the petition, the petitioner had no inherent authority to enter into contracts for such hiring of manpower, the documentary requirements for the release of wages of the Sanggunian workers were not complied with, and it was his duty as local chief executive to safeguard public funds from what he claimed were illegal disbursements.
The COA en banc pointed out that Villa’s MR raised nothing new.
“The arguments advanced before this Commission are mere rehash of the arguments in Gov. Villa’s Answer to the petition and were already carefully passed upon in the decision under reconsideration. Further, he failed to show that the evidence is insufficient to justify the decision or that the same is contrary to law,” it pointed out.
The Commission ordered the audit team assigned to the provincial government of Siquijor to “ascertain that the Office of the Provincial Governor will release the amount of P1,70,343.70 to the job order workers of the Legislative Department of the province.”
