COA: Justify overpayment or refund it

State auditors advised  the Lapu-Lapu City government that it should legally justify the overpayment of incentives to their employees or refund them.

The auditors’ advice came amid their findings of a P6.8-million overpayment of incentives to Lapu-Lapu City employees last year.

In their report, the auditors said the Performance Enhancement Incentive (PEI) worth P6,869,118 was beyond the standard set by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

They said the city granted PEI benefits equivalent to a month’s salary plus P5,000 to the employees.

However, some claims exceeded the P10,000 maximum required by the PEI.

The local government officials, who released a total amount of P14,729,118, said the additional cash gift was released through a Sangguniang Panlungsod ordinance.

They also said the excess amount was taken from their savings through project realignments.

Unless the local government can “legally justify” the incentive, the auditors recommended for them to refund the excess payment to observe procedures on government resources expenditures.

Meanwhile, the state auditors also noted an overtime service pay worth P1.4 million to 19 City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) from Jan. 16 to Nov. 30, 2010.

But the auditors said the overtime pay records didn’t indicate the list of personnel authorized to take the overtime and fixed date of completion.

“The accomplishment reports submitted showed that the overtime services rendered by CSWDO personnel seemed to be part of their regular functions and tend to show that the overtime services may not be so urgently needed,” the Commission on Audit report said.

However, the Lapu-Lapu City government said there was no planned target or schedule of the overtime work due to the unpredictable number of clients who required their services.

They also said it was difficult to have a shifting of manpower due to the lack of permanent personnel in their office.

The auditors recommended the social workers to refund the amount if they would fail to validly justify the overtime work. /Reporter Candeze R. Mongaya