ould financial incentives like cash gifts and midyear bonuses received by 151 Cebu Ports Authority (CPA) employees and officials apply as yet another example of extravagant spending by government agencies?
According to the Commission on Audit (COA) which issued a refund order, it is since the allocations were not cleared with the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
Let’s see the figures. Aside from the mandated 13th-month pay and annual Christmas bonus, there’s the traditional benefits of a midyear one-month basic salary bonus, year-end two-month basic salary bonus and a P50,000 cash gift.
These benefits were kept in place after the CPA was separated from the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) through a bill pushed by former Cebu City congressman Raul del Mar.
The workers, who resisted the transfer, agreed after being assured that their benefits under the PPA would be retained. They went to court in 1998 precisely to demand the return of the benefits and the court agreed with them.
If the CPA withholds the benefits, one official argued, not only will the auditors contend with angry workers. They will also have to deal with a court ruling that mandated the release of these benefits.
As if to justify these perks, CPA Deputy General Manager Yusop Uckung said the CPA generated more than P600 million in revenue and that funds were allocated to improve services of the various ports in Cebu, such as road rehabilitation.
If state auditors are serious in imposing fiscal discipline among government agencies and government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) then it can challenge the court ruling that gave these exorbitant perks to workers.
Far too often, taxpayers’ money is being used to buy government employee loyalty, keeping them in line by making their pockets fat and happy. That same carrot-and-stick approach had been applied to so many local government units (LGUs) that it has become a ticket for reelection among elected officials.
But the level of accountability of appointed officials appears less than their counterparts in elective office. In the CPA’s case, they are shielded by charters that encourage a “division of spoils” mentality that infects people in power—never mind if the revenue they generate actually comes from taxpayers’ money.
At a time when President Aquino’s mantra of “tuwid na daan” (straight path) called for austerity measures to curb excessive government spending, here we have the CPA showering themselves with cash incentives that employees in the private sector and even fellow government workers can only fantasize about.
Again, this cash incentive scheme should be reviewed and at least rationalized if only to bring more revenues to the CPA’s coffers that can be used for more projects to Cebu’s ports.
After all, their first priority happens to be the Cebuano public.