PhilHealth to appeal COA order to return nearly P164M in bonuses

The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) will still appeal before the Supreme Court (SC) the decision of the Commission on Audit (COA) for PhilHealth officials to return P163.85 million in unauthorized bonuses and allowances.

Dr. Josephine Domingo, PhilHealth spokesperson, said this on Friday after COA affirmed the disallowance of PhilHealth’s:

• P80.79 million in Christmas, performance and anniversary bonuses for 2009 to 2010, and
• P83.06 million in educational assistance and “birthday gift” benefits for 2014.

READ: COA orders PhilHealth to return P164M in bonuses

“Ang process kasi nun kung may COA disallowance kami inaappeal namin ‘yun sa courts. Once magdecide finally ang Supreme Court na ibabalik, eh talagang ibabalik namin,” Domingo said in a media forum.

Domingo explained that PhilHealth gave out these 2009 and 2014 bonuses and allowances to all their employees under the premise that they can fix their compensation.

“But COA said our interpretation was wrong dahil kailangan ng approval ng Department of Budget and Management and Office of the President,” she said.

Domingo noted that PhilHealth had already aligned last year their compensation scheme to the government’s salary standardization law.

“Tinanggal na rin namin itong mga bonuses na sinasabi ng COA kasi this was 2009  and 2014 pa,” she continued.   /vvp