Aloguinsan told: Refund communication allowance

CEBU, Philippines – The Commission on Audit has ordered Aloguinsan town officials to refund over P100,000 in mobile subscriptions allocated to unauthorized employees.

State auditors found out that the municipal government has granted postpaid subscription to employees below the division chief and load allowance to a job order employee.

“We recommend that the officials concerned to refund the amount of P118,400 corresponding to the post-paid subscription allocated to employees below the division chief,” COA said in its auditor report of Aloguinsan’s 2014 financial operations.

COA noted that the town granted postpaid subscription to unauthorized employees from January to October last year and a P1,050 eload allowance to a job order employee in violation of COA Circular No. 2012-003 dated October 29, 2012.   The said COA Circular states that postpaid lines are only for officials holding a rank not lower than division chief. But the town did not only grant mobile subscriptions to low ranking employees, it also paid in excess of the monthly allocations.

COA pointed out an employee holding a position as administrative IV who was granted an P8,000 mobile line allocation and an administrative I worker was given P12,000 for the same expense.   Six employees with lower ranks than an office head were given this privilege, said COA.

Also, the audit body discovered that two town councilors whose term ended on June 30, 2013 were also granted the same benefits and the government paid their monthly subscription until October 2014.

A former Sangguniang Kabataan president whose term expired on October 31, 2013 also had a similar privilege even after the term had long ended.  An employee who had already resigned was able to continue to use her postpaid subscription even after her resignation in July 2014, while job order workers were also given eload allowance amounting to P1,050. —/FPL (FREEMAN)