DPWH spends P200 M for honoraria

It’s a case of having spent more money than they had on hand.

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) spent some P100 million in 2002 alone just to cover the honoraria of its employees from the lowest rank to its undersecretaries, almost doubling these workers’ salaries in the process.

The bigger problem is that the DPWH does not have an allocation for such expenditure — or at least not that much.

Investigations are now ongoing at the DPWH to find out exactly what the officials and employees did to deserve the extra pay normally given to those who performed functions outside their regular duty.

"Our projections are that it could reach (the) hundreds of millions for the entire country and that is only for one year," one investigator told The STAR. The funds were released to DPWH personnel in lump sum payments early in 2003. The Commission on Audit (COA) has also reportedly found the disbursements questionable.

Preliminary investigation results indicated that many employees were receiving honoraria that nearly doubled their incomes, prompting DPWH Secretary Florante Soriquez to order a refund.

However, no charges are being considered against these DPWH employees and officials.

"That is the sad part," a DPWH insider said. "I think Secretary Soriquez is going to let these employees get away with it as long as they keep its total below their annual incomes."

A 1995 Department of Budget and Management (DBM) circular provides that government employees’ total honoraria should not exceed 50 percent of their gross annual income.

"There was even an attempt to cover up the case," the informant said. "Some of those involved asked that their names be not included in the audit and that they would just pay whatever they received in excess."

Soriquez did not deny the investigation. "We are investigating that," he said. "We actually asked some employees to refund some excess honoraria they received. We have made an arrangement for an installment payment because, if we ask them to pay up right away, they would have nothing left in their salaries." – Jose Aravilla