COA hits PhilHealth for P1.71B in unauthorized bonuses

The Commission on Audit has questioned some P1.761 billion in bonuses that the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) gave its officers and employees, saying such bonuses have not been authorized.

Worse, the COA said, PhilHealth continued to give out the bonuses despite several Notices of Disallowance issued by the audit body.

“Bonuses and allowances for the year 2013 amounting to P1.761 billion were continuously granted to PhilHealth officers and employees without legal basis and despite the issuance of previous Notices of Disallowance for similar payments,” the audit body said in a report released last week.

“Despite the issuance of the NDs and several Decisions denying their appeals and affirming the disallowances, Management continuously granted the aforementioned benefits and allowances without obtaining the required approval of the Office of the President,” the COA report added.

According to the PhilHealth, the incentives were supposedly based on various board resolutions. However, the COA noted that said resolutions were not submitted to the Office of the President through the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for approval.

The report added that the release of the bonuses directly violates Presidential Decree 1597, which rationalizes the system of compensation and position classification in the national government.

“The bonuses and allowances granted to officers and employees of PhilHealth were based on various PhilHealth board resolutions although these were not submitted to the Office of the President through the DBM for approval pursuant to Section 6 of P.D. 1597. The said bonuses and allowances were already disallowed for lack of legal basis and the Commission Proper issued decisions sustaining the Notices of Disallowance,” the report said.

In the same report, the audit body tasked PhilHealth to stop the release of the unauthorized bonuses, without approval from the DBM.

“We recommended that Management stop granting said allowances and other incentives unless an approval from the Office of the President is obtained,” the report said.

For its part, PhilHealth said it has filed its appeals, which are now pending at the COA Commission Proper. — Patricia Denise Chiu/BM, GMA News