Water district defends allowances
THE Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) has filed an appeal with the Commission on Audit (COA) which disallowed benefits and allowances it gave last year.
MCWD public affairs manager Charmaine Rodriguez-Kara said they have filed an appeal last Oct. 5 after COA disallowed P108 million worth of benefits and allowances for employees last year.
“MCWD has filed an appeal before the COA Central office regarding the bonuses and allowances and is awaiting its reply. MCWD released such bonuses and allowances in good faith and with legal basis,” Kara said in a press statement.
In its 2014 review on government-owned and controlled corporations, COA said a Joint Resolution No. 4 of the Senate and House of Representatives lists the benefits that can be granted by GOCCs.
MCWD’s use of the P108 million was not included in the joint resolution, COA said.
The amount was used for corporate incentive bonus (P70.7 million), rice and housing allowance (P8.7 million), medical expense allowance (P8 million), bonus for school opening (P5 million), utility allowance (P4 million), allowance for hospital bills (P3 million) and longevity allowance (P1.2 million).
Earlier this year, COA also ordered several water districts in the country to return P89.95 million worth of illegal cash allowances and bonuses since their petitions for reconsideration were denied.
MCWD topped the list of seven water districts with around P53.44 million worth of disallowed bonuses and allowances.
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