COA to wage board: Explain 2012 gift check bonuses

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Audit (COA) has questioned the grant of bonuses in the form of gift certificates to officials and employees of the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) in November and December last year.

In a 2012 report released over the weekend, state auditors questioned the “unnecessary purchase” of gift checks and wanted an explanation as to why these were distributed to executives and personnel during the Christmas season.

The NWPC bought P1.09 million worth of gift checks “without legal basis utilizing dormant balances of trust receipts from ILO (International Labor Organization) funds and refunds from (the) procurement service, contrary to Section 122 of the General Accounting and Auditing Manual (GAAM), Volume I,” the COA report read.

The COA said giving gift checks to the agency’s executives and workers “was an unnecessary item of expenditure as it was not essential in the operation of the agency.”

The audit team said those who received the gift certificates should be required to refund the total amount of P1.09 million.

The NWPC justified the move, saying the gift checks were to employees in recognition for their efforts in completing the office performance commitments, including the unprogrammed projects assigned by the labor secretary.

State auditors were told that out of the total amount, P819,000 was sourced from the trust fund, which was considered as part of the agency’s Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE) savings for 2012.

The COA report said the NWPC committed to submit additional documents to support its claim that the amount sourced from the trust fund is part of the agency’s MOOE savings.

NWPC executive director Criselda Sy said yesterday they have submitted their reply to the COA report. “Whether the COA will accept our justification will form part of their report next year. In case they won’t accept it, we can still appeal their decision,” she said.

Sy noted that the latest COA report on the NWPC bonus is just a regular procedure undertaken by the commission and not a conclusive finding of irregularity. – With Mayen Jaymalin