COA tells ex-DAR secretaries: Return P70.3M

The Commission on Audit (COA) has ordered former Agrarian Reform Secretaries Hernani Braganza and Rene Villa, among others, to return P70.3 million in employee benefits unlawfully granted from December 2001 to May 2005.

The COA also directed its Prosecution and Litigation Office to forward the case to the Office of the Ombudsman for investigation and possible filing of appropriate charges.

Besides Braganza and Villa, the COA held six others liable for the grant of health care allowances, which the commission disallowed for being unlawfully sourced from the Agrarian Reform Fund.

They were Undersecretary Teddie Elson Rivera, Finance and Management Administration Office officer in charge Teresita Panlilio, administration service director Nelson Genito, accounting division chief Charlie Reyes and officer Angelita Cacanta, and Department of Agrarian Reform Employees Association president Violeta Bonilla.

On the other hand, the COA let the ordinary employees who received the allowances off the hook from the reimbursement order on the grounds of good faith.