COA hits uneconomical hirings in 2 agencies under Office of the President

The Commission on Audit (COA) has expressed alarm over uneconomical hirings in two agencies under the Office of the President in 2017, seen as having cost the government millions which could have been avoided.

In annual audit reports on the agencies for 2017, the COA called out the Governance Commission for Government-Owned and Controlled Corporations (GCG) for hiring contract of service (COS) employees instead of just filling available plantilla positions, and the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office (PLLO) for hiring consultants whose jobs were redundant and are doable by existing regular personnel.

Plantilla positions

For the GCG, the COA noted that the hiring of 47 COS personnel in 2017, which was 200 percent more than the 20 unfilled plantilla positions as of Dec. 31, resulted in additional expenses of P15.62 million.

Duties overlap

As for the PLLO, the COA noted that the nine consultants hired by the office in 2017, which had cost the office P3.07 million, performed tasks that just “overlap with the duties and responsibilities of regular personnel or can basically be provided by the contract of service personnel.”

For a rate ranging from P30,000 to P60,000 per month, the accomplishments submitted by some consultants … overlap with the duties and responsibilities performed by the regular personnel,” the COA said. —Jaymee T. Gamil