CoA orders Cardema, Youth Commission to return P1.67-M in ‘invalid expenses’
Credit to Author: GLEE JALEA| Date: Tue, 04 Jun 2019 02:00:02 +0000
THE Commission on Audit (CoA) ordered the National Youth Commission, under outgoing chairman Ronald Cardema, ordered the return of at least P1.669 million worth of invalid leave credits and travel expenses.
In its 2018 audit report, the CoA said the youth commission’s employees were granted P680,675.91 worth of non-commutable leave credits, P129,718.66 worth of travel expenses, and P858,926 worth of monetized leave credits.
The NYC granted 371 days worth of non-commutable leave credits or compensatory time-off (CTO) equivalent to P680,675.91 which resulted to “incorrect” leave credit balances of 67 employees.
A CTO is a non-monetary benefit given to an employee based on the number of hours or days he can be excused for reporting for work in lieu of overtime pay.
According to the circular, official travels that fall on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays are not included.
The CoA cited data from the NYC’s Human Resource Management Unit which indicated that of the 76 permanent employees, 67 have availed of the CTOs and Special Day-Off (SDOs) while on travel status, two of who are officials occupying positions higher than chiefs of division.
NYC employees also made excess claims of travel expenses amounting to P129,718.66 due to the reimbursement of actual travel expenses, which was provided to officials and employees—a move that was inconsistent with Executive Order 298 s. 2004.
Section 4 of EO 298 states that the travel expenses of government personnel should only amount to P800 per day, apportioned for meals (30 percent), lodging (50 percent) and incidental expenses (20 percent).
However, the CoA reported that the NYC issued Office Order 272-2018 “superseding the various Office Orders prescribing rules and regulations allowing the claims of reimbursement of actual travel expenses per day” by accumulating P92,136.82 worth of excessive claims in travel expenses alone.
It added that out of the P129,718.66 excessive claims, P37,581.84 or 28.97 percent was apportioned for meals “which are immoderate for one person’s consumption.”
Meanwhile, at least 16 personnel reportedly monetized their leave credits amounting to P858,926.63 in violation of COA Circular 2012-01.
The circular notes that monetization of 50 percent of the sick/leave credits may only be allowed for health reasons, calamity funds, educational needs, payment of mortgages, and other valid cases.
However, the employees used their leave credits for house repair, payment of loans, medication of a family member, children’s educational expense and other personal expenses which the NYC management remarked as “valid,” as enumerated under the CSC Memorandum Circular 41 s. 1998.
The state auditor said, however, that “although the leave credits were already earned by the officials and the employees, reasons for payment thereof should also [be] in accordance with the rules and regulations.”
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