FOUR types of allowance and bonuses paid by the Philippine National Construction Corp (PNCC) to its officials and employees in 2010 and 2011 totaling P36.455 million have been ordered refunded to government coffers by the Commission on Audit.
In a decision released yesterday, the COA Commission Proper denied the petition for review filed by PNCC officers Miriam Pasetes, Janice Day Alejandrino, Yolanda Mortel, and Henry Salazar that sought the recall of the 2015 ruling of the COA Corporate Government Sector that supported the five notices of disallowance issued against the government firm’s cash perks.
Covered by the COA ruling were the P24.9 million exit bonuses paid to all PNCC personnel at P100,000 each; the P5.86 million anniversary bonuses equivalent to one month salary; the P5.085 million ISO bonuses at P10,000 per regular employee and P5,000 for non-regular/coterminous employees; and the P605,000 excess payment of uniform allowances.
Audit showed the bonuses were paid during the last phase of the retrenchment program of PNCC in 2010 until 2011.
In their appeal, the PNCC officers claimed they are outside the jurisdiction of the COA hence the NDs have no bearing.
They argued that the PNCC is a private corporation hence its personnel cannot be treated on the same footing as government officials and employees.
However, the COA noted that way back in 2009, the Supreme Court had settled the question on the personality of the PNCC through its decision in the case of Strategic Alliance Development Corporation vs. Radstock Securities Limited and PNCC.
In the same ruling the High Court declared that the PNCC is “not a private corporation but indisputably a government owned corporation.”
This was reaffirmed in the 2019 SC decision in the case of Alejandrino and Pasetes vs. COA et. al., which emphasized that the government has a 90.3 percent stake in PNCC.
“PNCC is a GOCC without original charter but under the audit jurisdiction of COA. 22 Accordingly, PNCC’s conversion of its debts to government equity is a form of investment of public funds. Its funds, being public in character, PNCC cannot exempt itself from the audit jurisdiction of this Commission,” the COA stressed.
Upholding the validity of the assailed COA-CGS ruling, the commission said the allowance and bonuses had no legal basis for failing to comply with the provisions of RA 9970 or the General Appropriations Act of 2010 and Administrative Order No. 263 covering the grant of anniversary bonuses to government employees.
“Accordingly, the approving and certifying officers shall be liable to refund the total disallowance,” the COA said.
As for employees who had no participation in approving the disallowed bonuses, the COA said they are only required to refund the sums they personally received.
