COA to Napolcom: Stop giving allowances for diet supplements

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Audit (COA) has directed the National Police Commission (Napolcom) to stop granting so-called dietary supplement allowances to its officials and personnel.

Records show that more than P9 million was spent for such benefits, given even to contract service and job order employees last year.

 State auditors, in a 2018 report released yesterday, said the payment of dietary supplement allowances is without legal basis.  

COA said it issued an Audit Observation Memorandum (AOM) in 2017, also calling on Napolcom to stop the grant of such allowances.

Napolcom officials said that the payment of dietary supplement allowances is in accordance with its Preventive Health Care Program, which was adopted pursuant to Civil Service Commission (CSC) Memorandum Circular No. 33 declaring a “Policy on Working Conditions at the Workplace” and Administrative Order (AO) No. 402, issued by Malacanang in 1998, which establishes a medical check-up program for government personnel.

State auditors, however, emphasized that AO 42 “is a limited benefit confined to a medical check-up program consisting of procedures that are strictly diagnostic.”

“Nothing in AO No. 402 refers to prescription drug benefits nor dietary supplement benefits,” the COA report stressed.

State auditors said Napolcom should stop the payment of the allowance and “refrain from paying any form of allowances unless legally authorized.”

 Napolcom officials said they will comply with COA’s directive even as they argued that their justifications have merit.