Paid while on leave: BIR workers told: Reimburse gov't

CEBU, Philippines - Officials of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) regional office in Cebu City have been paying the salaries of 36 employees even if they are supposed to be on leave without pay.

 The Commission on Audit (COA) discovered that as a result, the government wasted P206,951.26 that were paid to the said BIR personnel even if they are not rendering service to the government. The COA report revealed that the BIR regional office 13, based in Cebu City, has 503 employees.

 According to the state auditor, the erroneous charging of the employees’ leave of absence without pay and under time is considered illegal.

 The BIR officials were instructed to let the concerned employees reimburse the amount that they received during the period that they did not render service to the government.

 During the audit of the Cebu City-based BIR Regional Office 13’s transactions, it was also found out that the office had collected P18,000 from the issuance of bid documents but the amount was not deposited in the bank.

This is contrary to the provision of the Government Accounting and Auditing Manual (GAAM) which states that revenue and other collections for the government shall be immediately deposited to the agency’s depository banks at least the following day after it was collected.

 COA also found out that the said amount was just spent by the BIR officials for the honoraria, meals and snacks of the members of the Bids and Awards Committee without duly processed disbursement vouchers.

 Section 63 of Republic Act 1445 provides that “Except as may otherwise be specifically provided by law or competent authority, all moneys and property officially received by a public officer in any capacity must be accounted for as government funds and government property.”

Chona O. Buac, the assistant chief of the BIR Administration Division, had been questioned by COA about the said expenditure.

BIR officials claimed that spending the amount for the honoraria, meals and snacks of the BAC members is authorized under Budget Circular 2007-3 but the state auditors insisted that it was improper considering that the disbursements are considered irregular expenditures because it does not adhere to established rules, regulations and procedural guidelines that have gained recognition by law.

COA advised the BIR officials to submit to them the original receipts of the expenses to support such disbursements.

 The BIR also failed to comply with the requirements to submit monthly accounting reports of their financial transactions to the resident auditor.

 The documents showed that the submission of monthly reports were late ranging from 21 days to 154 days or five months in violation of COA Circular No. 88-192A, thus making it difficult for the auditors to make a timely and complete review or verification of the financial transactions.

 COA further advised the chief of the BIR Finance Department to comply with the provisions of the law.

“In order to facilitate immediate submission of the required reports and documents, it was recommended to require the cashier to submit immediately the disbursement vouchers together with the Report of Checks Issued to the Finance Department,” COA said.

 The BIR cited the heavy workload and lack of manpower as the reason why the cashier cannot cope with the segregation and timely submission of vouchers. — (FREEMAN)