Unauthorized incentives, honorarium at BFAR 7

CEBU, Philippines – The Commission on Audit has ordered the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources 7 to require its employees to refund the incentives and honorarium they received in 2009, which were found to be disbursed illegally.

In its report, COA said BFAR did not follow the correct procedure in granting incentives amounting to P10,420,000 and honorarium amounting to P213,600 as Collec-tive Negotiation Agreement (CNA) incentives.

BFAR officials in other parts of the country also reportedly made similar disbursements amounting to P20 million.

COA explained that while granting CNA incentives is authorized by law, the same should be taken from an agency's savings of its annual budget.

The Department of Budget and Management also requires that only half of the total savings can be spent to grant the CNA bonus.

COA said the BFAR officials committed irregular acts when they distributed the CNA bonus as early as October 2009 with the second and third releases before De-cember 31 last year.

"All those who authorized the payment thereof shall be personally liable for the amount paid," the COA report reads.

The other irregular transaction happened after the BFAR-7 officials spent P213,600 for the honoraria of seven employees who reportedly participated in the implemen-tation of various activities of the Integrated Coastal Resources Management Project without the necessary supporting documents.

Then, the BFAR-7 officials also authorized the grant of additional medical and dental allowances amounting to P1,950,000. It also gave P156,000 social amelioration, P312,000 grocery allowance and P156,000 staple food and rice allowance.

In the 2008 annual audit report, the BFAR also incurred several questionable financial transactions that included the expenses for giveaways or "pasalubong" for visi-tors and BFAR officials, which violated state audit procedures. (FREEMAN)