Talisay gov’t exceeded incentives, say auditors

OFFICIALS and employees of Talisay City Hall received P5.8 million in cash incentives which is well above the ceiling imposed by the Commission on Audit (COA).

State auditors said the mayor’s office received  P825,000 in Productivity Enhancement Incentives (PEI) while the allowable limit is only P285,000.

Market personnel received P900,000 or P600,000 more than the allowed P300,000 ceiling.

COA also noted the “illegal disbursement” of cash incentives to 1,038 city hall personnel under job order status worth P4,914,100.

Job order employees are not accorded the same benefits as regular employees, they said.

The cash incentive ranged from P650 to P5,000 per employee and  distributed last December 2010.

COA recommended that the personnel refund the cash incentives granted to them.

They also warned the LGU to avoid granting cash incentive benefits to job order personnel in the future.

State auditors  reported a P44.5 million unreconciled balance on the Property, Plant and Equipment (PPE) of Talisay City.

COA said the different figures are due to the failure of accountants to maintain their inventory records and property cards.

The general services officer of the LGU said they would reconcile their property records in the accounting office.

The auditors recommended to Talisay City officials to maintain their property ledger and keep complete records of the city’s buildings and structures  so they could control the custody of information on the city’s properties.

COA also noted lot purchases in barangay Dumlog worth more than P40 million which did not undergo pre-audit due to lack of documents like tax declaration and authenticated copies of the land titles.

COA recommended a careful examination in the transactions to avoid future legal problems. They also recommended a COA technical review of the lot purchases. Reporter Candeze R. Mongaya