ILOILO – The Commission on Audit (COA) has lifted the Notice of Disallowance (ND) it issued on the 2013 Productivity Enhancement Incentive (PEI) amounting to P63,045,500 of Iloilo provincial government employees.
“We expected the lifting,” said Atty. Dennis Ventilacion, Provincial Legal Office chief. His office received a copy of the COA decision last week.
Capitol’s case was similar to that of the local government of Balasan town, said Ventilacion. December last year, COA lifted the notice of disallowance it issued to the PEI of Balasan municipal government employees.
In its decision dated Oct. 25, 2017, COA granted the petition for review of the Balasan local government on COA’s decision No. 2016-020 dated May 23, 2016 which affirmed the notice of disallowance (ND No. 2015-001-100 2013) dated July 2015 on the payment of PEI for 2013 in the amount of P2.5 million.
“The PEI should not exceed the Personal Services (PS) limitation which should not be more than 45 percent. Same in Balasan, the provincial government did not exceed the PS limitation,” said Ventilacion.
The provincial government gave its over 2,000 employees P35,000 each as PEI for 2013.
With the lifting, said Ventilacion, capitol employees need not refund their bonuses.
In initially issuing a notice of disallowance, COA said the provincial government violated Malacañang’s Executive Order No. 80 for exceeding the authorized P5,000 for capitol employees’ PEI.
The COA then ordered a refund./PN
