LWUA officials ordered to return P13-M in excess allowances

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court (SC) ordered department managers of the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) to return P13.11 million worth of unauthorized extraordinary and miscellaneous expenses they received in 2006.

The SC, in an en banc decision, upheld the notice of disallowance issued on July 21, 2009 by the Commission on Audit (COA), which found that P13,110,998.26 was reimbursed to the officials from January to December 2006. COA said the reimbursement was not supported by receipts and other documents required by the audit agency's circular.

The LWUA officials concerned said they were unaware of the existence of the circular and appealed their case to COA, which denied their appeal. They elevated the case to the Court of Appeals where their appeal was similarly denied.

Finally, the officials took the case to the SC but the high court ruled that COA was right when it issued the notice of disallowance.

"The Court finds that the COA did not commit any grave abuse of discretion as its affirmance of Notice of Disallowance No. 09-001-GF (06) is based on cogent legal grounds," the SC noted.