COA asks Dureza, Jimenez to return unauthorized pay

The Commission on Audit (COA) has ordered Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza and former Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr. to return P2.2 million in unauthorized incentives paid to their respective employees.

In a recently released four-page decision dated Dec. 27, the COA found Dureza and three others liable for the unauthorized payment of P456,000 in staple food assistance and P540,000 in amelioration allowance when he was chairperson of the Mindanao Economic Development Council (Medco) from 2001 to 2004.

The COA said the grant of allowances exempted from the Salary Standardization Law’s prohibition requires the approval of the Department of Budget and Management or the Office of the President.

Since Medco employees were deemed to have received the benefits in good faith, the Coa’s notice of disallowance (ND) was limited to Dureza, Vice Chair Eufemia Calderon, Administration and Finance Director Corazon Ginete and retired administrative officer Perla Pandan.

Full responsibility

Although the three officials were held liable, Dureza said in a statement that “as sole approving authority, I personally take full responsibility and spare the other employees/officials from liability as ruled by COA.”

“Although I already returned what I personally received myself while still at Medco years ago, I will promptly return the remaining total amount due from my own personal funds immediately upon my return to the country,” said Dureza, who is still in Rome for the third round of peace talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.

At the same time, Dureza said he approved the allowances at the finance department’s recommendation to “augment [the  employees’] meager pay and to give them incentives for a year’s good performance.”

Upon learning of the disallowance, he said he only tried to appeal the order to protect the employees.

Fuel differential

Meanwhile, the COA affirmed the order for Jimenez to return the P1.23-million fuel differential paid to Department of Tourism officials and employees from 2009 to 2012.

This was because Jimenez’s appeal against the Oct. 11, 2013 notice of disallowance was not filed within the required 180-day period.

It took him 194 days to appeal the order before the COA National Government Sector Cluster 7. It relaxed the application to accept the appeal, but its Aug. 28, 2015 decision affirmed the ND.

Afterwards, it took Jimenez another 35 days to bring the case to the Commission proper, far beyond the allowable 180-day period.

This time, the COA proper refused to relax the rules. “Petitioner [Jimenez] has not offered any substantial argument that would justify the belated filing of his petition,” read the recently released two-page decision dated Dec. 27.

This rendered the ND “final and executory.”

Jimenez became Tourism Secretary in September 2011. His predecessor were Joseph Ace Durano under the Arroyo administration, and President Aquino’s first appointee Alberto Lim.