by Mary Claire U.
Catado
UP Cebu Intern
PROVINCIAL Treasurer Emmanuel Guial yesterday said the Cebu provincial government had enough funds and strong legal basis to give bonuses to Capitol employees last year.
The Commission on Audit (COA), in its annual report, has recommended that the Cebu provincial government ask about 1,500 regular and casual employees to return excess incentives of about P28 million.
“Disbursement of the PEI last year was legal and we had the funds for that purpose,” Guial said in a press conference yesterday. The disbursement was provided for by Appropriation Ordinance No. 014-25 or the 2014 Supplemental Budget No. 3.
COA cited Executive Order No. 80, which prescribes only P5,000 per employee for the Productivity Enhancement Incentive (PEI).
The provincial government, however, gave bonuses of P22,000 or one-month salary, whichever is higher.
“We don’t have the actual amount because it varies. Casual employees get P9,000 while department heads received P60,000,” Guial said.
He said the provincial legal office was preparing documentation to support the release of the bonuses.
“There is a prior executive order and DBM (Department of Budget and Management) supports us,” he said.
He was referring to a DBM circular that allows local government units to determine the bonuses based on available funds.
“The local government unit is different from the national government, which is limited to the P5,000 PEI,” he added.
The COA report said the PEI released last year amounted to almost P37 million. Based on the P5,000-per-employee rate, it should have amounted only to about P7.5 million, state auditors said.