Commission on Audit finds Senate execs' allowances 'unwarranted'

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Audit (COA) has found the allowances of Senate executives “unwarranted,” but Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile came to their defense.

The COA report for last year detailed the salaries and allowances of executives and officers of government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) and national government agencies, which the state auditors said were uncalled for.

The COA report also cited the salaries and allowances of Senate secretary Emma Lirio Reyes, Senate deputy secretary for administration and finance Arnel Jose Banas, and the Senate’s sergeant-at-arms, retired general Jose Balajadia.

Based on the COA 2009 report, Reyes received total salaries and allowances amounting to P3.34 million.

Apart from her P265,784 allowance, the COA said Reyes had incurred P1.9 million in “extraordinary and miscellaneous expenses” last year.

The same report said Banas got P2.263 million in total salaries and allowances.

Balajadia, on the other hand, received P2.125 million in total salaries and allowances for 2009, the COA report said.

The COA report questioned the releases made by Enrile and Sen. Panfilo Lacson, as chairman of the Senate committee on accounts.

“I take responsibility on that,” Enrile said. “Others involved millions, while we only have thousands,” he said, referring to executives of GOCCs.

As Senate president, Enrile approved and authorized the release of allowances last year.

Enrile justified the releases by comparing the salaries and perks received by their counterparts at the House of Representatives.

“I authorized that and the reason for that is for 15 years, the House (of Representatives) has been receiving that kind of allowances, the officials there. And the people at the Senate are not,” Enrile said.

“If one branch of legislature gets the privilege, I see no reason why we could not extend it to the Senate and I did. I feel responsible,” he said.

Enrile said he does not know why the COA was asking the Senate to explain this issue when it should question the allowances of GOCCs.

Enrile said the rank-and-file were also given additional allowances based on their salary scale.

After the Senate’s allowances were exposed, the COA is reportedly looking into the liability of Lacson over the release of the funds in his capacity as chairman of the Senate committee on accounts.

Sources revealed the COA is conducting the review from January 2009 to June this year when Lacson oversaw the release of the additional allowances, purportedly sourced from the savings of the Senate. 

And the amounts involved “hundreds of millions,” not just in the “thousands” as declared by Enrile.

Enrile also defended Lacson amid the accusations.

“I will tell you Senator Lacson was very meticulous in handling the accounts of the Senate. And I do not regret having entrusted to him the committee on accounts,” Enrile said.

“Very few people that I know of can handle money the way he did,” he said.

Former senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr., however, challenged Enrile to conduct an investigation into the issue.

He said the Senate could not look into the alleged anomalies into the GOCCs without looking into their own excessive allowances.

Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri, for his part, said it is just proper that the Senate officers are given extra allowances because they have contributed in the immediate passage of laws.

“I guess, let’s allow us to study the COA report to get a clearer picture. It’s all in the hands of the chairman of the Senate committee on accounts. Let’s review it and if excessive, then we have to study this again,” Zubiri said.

Apart from detailing the “unwarranted” salaries and allowances, COA though did not specify how the “extraordinary and miscellaneous expenses” of the Senate officials were spent.

The COA report revealed Reyes was the top earner in the ranks of Senate executives last year.

Last month, the COA also urged the Senate leadership to stop the illegal disbursements of the budget for Lacson’s office and his staff after it discovered that the senator was “questionably” signing the disbursement papers when he has supposedly gone into hiding.

Lacson had gone into hiding after a warrant for his arrest was issued over the November 2000 murder of publicist Salvador Dacer and driver Emmanuel Corbito.

After Enrile ordered the suspension of the funds, the Senate also moved to appoint Majority Leader Sen. Vicente Sotto III as acting chairman of the committee on accounts.

But a number of Senate officers and employees are up in arms against the recent exposés made by COA.

They echoed the sentiment of Enrile in saying that they deserved the allowances because what they get is far lower than the benefits of their counterparts in the House.

“The GOCCs are generating income that is why they are being questioned,” said Noriel Mercado, of the Public Relations and Information Bureau.

Another Senate executive, a lawyer by profession, said these allowances are justified because they are barred from doing private law practice. 

The COA notified Enrile about their “concern” last Oct. 18.