COA recommends dismissal of 2 PCGG exec staff

MANILA, Philippines – State auditors have recommended the termination of two staff members of an official of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), citing their “unreasonable” appointment and then incurring huge amounts of excesses in phone bills.

The Commission on Audit (COA) had questioned the appointment of the two staff members of PCGG Commissioner Ricardo Abcede whom they did not name in their recent report.

“We recommend that the PCGG terminate immediately the services of the two remaining chief of staff of Commissioner Abcede since the tasks that they were doing as PCGG EE (expense entitlement) personnel can be done by the commissioner’s legal counsel and three executive assistants,” the report said.

State auditors also said PCGG officials with mobile phones issued by the agency accumulated an excess of P227,792.36 beyond their maximum monthly allocation.

“We recommend that (PCGG) management... cause the refund of the excess cellular phone charges totaling P227,792.36,” COA said.

According to the COA report, there are three personnel appointed as chiefs of staff under the “expense entitlement” scheme and whose salaries come from PCGG’s maintenance and operating expenses.

One was assigned with PCGG Commissioner Nicasio Conti but his services had been terminated.

Two of these three are assigned with Abcede’s office “with one designated as Chief of Staff-External with a monthly salary of P28,000 and the other Chief of Staff-Internal with a monthly salary of P24,000.”

“We also noted that as chiefs of staff under EE, they are non-career employees yet exercising supervision over regular and career personnel which is a clear violation of CSC MC (Civil Service Commission Memorandum Circular) 26-A s. 1997,” state auditors said.

“Since they are not government officials/employees, they cannot be held accountable for their overt acts, neglects or omissions while performing the duties and responsibilities of public officers or employees,” they also said.

However, PCGG commented that the two staff members being questioned were “not covered by the Civil Service Law and Rules” and “are not covered by CSC Law and Rules governing regular positions or positions in the career service.”

“Their designation and assignment of duties are purely internal in the office of Commissioner Abcede. Moreover, they exercise supervisory authority only over employees who are paid from sources under similar category,” PCGG said.

“Regarding the observation compensation... it may be mentioned that those covered by contracts are usually given higher salary rates than those holding plantilla items,” the report stated.

The COA also cited that in a previous report, among the observations was the “significant increase of mobile telephone expenses by 48 percent compared to 2005 mobile expenses.”

In the 2007 audit report, the same observation was made.

In reaction, the PCGG said it has issued an order last Jan. 30 “clarifying previous order on cell phone cap that the maximum monthly allocation of P10,000 and P5,000 for the official use of PCGG-issued cellular phones do not apply in cases where the official concerned is abroad on official business and the charges on text messages and voice calls are made by virtue thereof inclusive of the corresponding roaming charges, taxes and other charges.