Airport board defends grant

CEBU, Philippines - Six members of the Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) board yesterday faced the media to insist that there was nothing irregular and illegal in the granting of severance pay amounting to P500,000 to former Department of Tourism regional director Patria Aurora Roa.

The move of the MCIAA board has been criticized by several personalities while the Office of the Ombudmans-Visayas has started a fact-finding investigation on the legality of such.

Since the news broke, it was the first time that MCIAA board headed by General Manager Danilo Augusto Francia called for a press conference about the matter.

Francia was joined by Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, Justice Undersecretary Jose Vicente Salazar, and private sector representatives Valeriano “Bobit” Avila, former Cebu City vice mayor Renato Osmeña and Cebu Business Club president Dondi Joseph.

Garcia pointed out that the grant of severance pay to Roa was a “collective decision” of the board.

“Is it legal? Yes! Is it irregular? Certainly not! We are covered by the law,” Garcia said and read some provisions of Republic Act 6958, the law that created the MCIAA Charter.

RA 6958 was signed into law by President Corazon Aquino on July 31, 1990.

Garcia said the law, which the board used as basis for their action has been there “long before we sat here.”

Garcia read Section 7(d) of RA 6958, which states that the board is empowered “to approve salary ranges, benefits and other terms and conditions of service for all officers and employees of the authority, upon recommendation of the general manager, which shall, as far as possible, be competitive with those offered in the private sector, subject to existing laws, rules and regulations.”

Last April 15, the 15-member board led approved a resolution granting Roa the retirement pay in recognition for her having served as alternate member director of the MCIAA board for 15 years.

Joseph said the MCIAA charter empowers the board to compensate its officers and employees while Avila said that Roa did not ask for the compensation and it was a decision of the board.

The Office of the Ombudsman in the Visayas has ordered an investigation into the alleged questionable granting of severance pay to Roa when she retired from government service.

The investigation is intended to determine whether or not it was proper to release the amount to Roa, who retired a few months ago.

But Francia said that until this day, he did not receive any notification or letter from the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas regarding the matter.

The FREEMAN tried to contact Roa for her comment, but was told that she is currently out of the country.