COA orders MCIAA to refund P1.3M

CEBU, Philippines - The Commission on Audit has ordered the Mactan Cebu International Airport management to cause the refund of the P1.3 million that it paid as honoraria to ex-officio members of the Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority Board in 2010.

Mactan Airport General Manager Nigel Paul Villarete, however, clarified that a few months after he assumed office on October 26, 2010, he stopped the granting of honoraria to “ex-officio or alternate members” of the MCIAA Board.

Executive Order 24 issued by Malacañang defines the term “Ex-Officio Board Member” as an individual who sits or acts as a member of the Board of Directors or Trustees by virtue of his or her title to another office.

An alternate member is an individual who is officially designated by an ex-officio board member to exercise the powers and perform the functions of the latter in the event of his or her absence or incapacity when allowed by law.

Executive Order 24 disallowed all ex-officio members of the board, including their representatives, from collecting any form of remuneration, except reimbursable expenses as authorized by law.

The Department of Budget and Management Circular provides that department secretaries, undersecretaries and assistant secretaries who serve as ex-officio members of the Board of Directors are not entitled to any remuneration in line with the Supreme Court ruling that their services in the board are already paid and covered by remuneration to their office.

COA discovered that in 2010, when the MCIAA was still under the previous administration, it had granted allowances to nine ex-officio members of the board, aside from granting severance pay of P500,000 to former tourism regional director Patria Aurora Roa when the latter retired from the government service.

The state auditors said despite previous audit disallowances on similar claims, the MCIAA while it was still under the previous administration continued to grant remuneration to the nine ex-officio members of the board.

Each member of the MCIAA Board is receiving P30,000 in honorarium a month or P15,000 per meeting.

State Auditor Irma Purog also noted that the director’s allowance of P15,000 per meeting was deducted with P3,000 withholding tax, but further verification Purog discovered that the amount was given back to the members of the board out of the airport manager discretionary fund.

The issue about the granting of P500,000 to Roa is still being investigated by the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas.

When interviewed yesterday, Airport manager Villarete said “I am assuring the public that I shall do my utmost to follow COA rules and regulations as well as the orders of the Office of the President.”

Meanwhile, COA encouraged the MCIAA officials to try their best to speed up the titling of the lots, which are presently under its control but still not registered under its name.

The records showed that of the total 767 lots with an assessed value of P1.459 billion, only 63 of them worth P130.9 million are with titles while the 704 parcels of lots with an assessed value of P1.328 billion remain untitled. — (FREEMAN)