COA: PCSO employees, officials got P500M in unauthorized bonuses in 2016

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Audit has identified the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office as a government-controlled corporation with the highest unauthorized allowances and bonuses granted to its officials and employees in 2016 amounting P518.314 million.

In its 2016 Annual Financial Report on GOCCs released on October 26, the state audit body identified eight state firms, including the PCSO, to have granted perks to its officials and employees without “sufficient legal basis” totaling P619.771 million.

Next to PCSO on the list was the Small Business Corp. with P46.448 million unauthorized allowances and bonuses granted in 2016.

In its 2016 Annual Financial Report on GOCCs released on October 26, the state audit body identified eight state firms, including the PCSO, to have granted perks to its officials and employees without “sufficient legal basis” totaling P619.771 million. Infographics by Jonathan Asuncion.

The SBC is an attached agency of the Department of Trade and Industry mandated to provide technical and financial assistance to small and medium entrepreneurs.

The third identified erring GOCC was the National Electrification Administration with P23.683 million of unauthorized allowances and bonuses.

The other state firms identified in the COA report to have granted perks without legal basis were the Philippine Coconut Authority (P11.475 million), National Food Authority (P10.097 million), Apo Production Unit Inc. (P7.45 million), Human Settlements Development Corp. (P2.085 million) and Intercontinental Broadcasting Corp. or IBC-13 (P219,000).

The Apo Production Unit (previously Asian Productivity Organization) is an attached agency of the Presidential Communications Operations Office, which handles the printing demands of several government agencies and offices such as the accountable forms and other high quality/high volume print materials.

Based on the COA records, of the PCSO's P518.314-million grants to its officials and employees, P503.667 million was for “payments of allowances, bonuses, and other benefits that were not supported by sufficient legal basis”, while the balance of P14.647 million “pertains to payments of allowances that were in excess of prescribed rates.”

The state auditors said the allowances and other perks were given despite the gaming firm's unsettled disallowances from the previous years totaling P1.213 billion, which also stemmed from infractions of government compensation rules.

Based on the COA report, the PCSO's 2016 pay package to its officials and employees includes the following: Christmas bonus (P151.174 million), educational assistance bonus (P123.817 million), grocery bonus (P71.08 million), weekly draw allowance (P60.267 million), hazard pay given to non-public health workers (P27.535 million), revenue performance incentive pay (P23.222 million) and some smaller amounts of allowances and anniversary bonus.

The COA directed the PCSO and the other identified erring GOCCs to secure an approval from the Office of the President or the Government Commission on GOCCs (GCG) regarding their questioned compensation grants.

The audit body also directed the GOCCs to “submit justification as to why the payment of incentives should not be disallowed in audit” and “to discontinue/stop the payment of compensation/allowances/benefits/incentives in the absence of legal basis/authority to grant the same.”