COA advises university to refund P2.52M bonus paid to employees

The Commission on Audit recently recommended to the Cebu Normal University management the refund of P2.52 million in total incentives, under the Collective Negotiable Agreement, that were paid to employees despite non-compliance of the rules for such disbursements.

"We recommend that management submit other legal basis in granting the incentives, if any, in view of the non-compliance to the provisions of the resolutions of the Public Sector Labor Management Council, otherwise require the employees to make the refund," said the COA's Annual Audit Report.

The COA audit report for 2005, as posted in the COA website, said the incentives granted to the employees violated PSLMC's Resolution 4-2002.

The resolution provides that CNA incentives should be given only after the school's board of regents approves it and when there are savings generated after the signing of the CNA. It also requires union and management to have cost-cutting measures.

The two unions of the university, the CNU Administrative Staff Association (organized in 1990) and CNU Faculty Association Inc. (organized in 2001), have recognized the granting of CNA incentives as both a ratification or signing bonus and a professional enhancement assistance.

The signed CNA stated that union members are entitled to at least P10,000 each of PEA and P5,000 each for economic crisis assistance.

COA, however, noted irregularity in the release of the incentives because these were disbursed on December 29, 2004 or a month before the board of regents approved these on January 26, 2005.

COA also said the university could not yet cite the savings clause in the PSLMC resolution because savings could only be identified by the end of 2005, or a year after the release of incentives.

The CNA further exclude provisions on cost cutting measures and systems improvement, as the PSLMC requires both management and union to accomplish.

The university management, for its part, explained that, before the disbursement, a series of preliminary negotiations between labor and management was formalized based on cost reduction measures and systems improvement.

The disbursements were done in good faith, said the university management, after getting a confirmation from the board of regents authorizing such payment, as morale booster to financially drained employees.

Meanwhile, COA also wanted the university to refund some of the employees' honoraria, amounting to P563,840, that were given last year, ruling that at least 22 of them were not among those qualified to receive the money.

According to a government circular, heads of agencies are authorized to use their respective budget for honoraria to pay only three classifications of personnel.

They are: 1) Teachers whose teaching loads are outside regular hours or in excess of regular load; 2) lecturers and coordinators of seminars and training; and 3) chairs and members of commissions or councils. - Ferliza C. Contratista