OFFICIALS of Kalinga State University (KSU) have failed to convince the Commission on Audit (COA) to lift the notice of disallowance issued against the payment of honoraria to its officers and employees totaling P1.11 million after their petition for review was denied.
The COA en banc upheld the 2017 decision of the COA Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) which held that the payment was improperly sourced from funds transferred by other government agencies for funded studies.
It sustained the position of the COA CAR that while the university officials and staff deserved the payment of honoraria, such payout should have been drawn against the appropriation of the KSU specifically intended for such expense item.
The Notice of Disallowance issued on June 23, 2016 named as persons liable KSU president Jovita Saguibo; vice president for research, extension and training Amado Imper; budget officer designate Danilo Buen; and the payees who received the honoraria.
In their petition, university officials invoked presumption of good faith saying the funding agencies allowed the payment of such additional compensation.
Among the agencies that transferred funds to the university were the Department of Agriculture, DA-CAR, Department of Agrarian Reform CAR, DAR-Kalinga, Department of the Interior and Local Government CAR, Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic, and Natural Resource Research and Development, and the Philippine Rice Research Institute.
Auditors concurred with the explanation of KSU that the projects and activities undertaken for the funded studies as special projects for which university personnel rightfully deserve to be compensated.
However, they pointed out that the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Budget Circular No. 2007-2 provides that payment of honoraria must be sourced from the agencies’ respective appropriations.
Likewise, COA Circular No. 94-013 prohibits the utilization of funds transferred by another government agency for the payment of additional compensation in the form of allowances, incentive pay, bonuses, or honoraria.
“While this Commission believes that the entitlement to honoraria by the KSU personnel involved in the projects was proper, the amount should have been, however, charged to the appropriation for honoraria of KSU in the GAA (General Appropriations Act) and not to the funds transferred by other government agencies,” the COA said.
