Ex-SolGen Hilbay: OSG can receive allowances from other agencies

Former Solicitor General Florin Hilbay said that the Office of the Solicitor General is allowed to receive allowances from other agencies, amid reports of supposedly excessive allowances received by former and current lawyers under the OSG.

In a statement dated June 1, Hilbay pointed out that "the OSG, unlike other government offices, was allowed by law to receive allowances not from its own funds, but from those of other agencies."

"Thus, the Solicitor General and his staff are specifically authorized to receive allowances as may be provided by the government offices, instrumentalities and corporations concerned, in addition to their regular compensation," Hilbay said, citing Presidential Decree No. 478 (1974); Executive Order No. 292 (1987); and Republic Act No. 9417 (2007).

A CLARIFICATION ON THE MATTER OF ALLOWANCES RECEIVED BY FORMER AND CURRENT LAWYERS OF THE OFFICE OF THE SOLICITOR GENERAL pic.twitter.com/nJ1D1L0sjg

— florin hilbay (@fthilbay) June 2, 2018

Last week, the Commission on Audit (COA) reported that current Solicitor General Jose Calida received P7.46 million in excess allowances in 2017, covering more than 70 percent of the P10.77 million in honoraria given to 15 of the agency's officials for their legal services.

Calida's camp deemed the report "baseless," saying that the COA merely based its report on a circular that limits an OSG lawyer's honoraria and allowances to 50 percent of his or her salary.

The OSG stressed that the said circular, No. 85-25-E, cannot prevail over other laws, such as Republic Act No. 9417, or the law strengthening the OSG, "which states that OSG lawyers may receive honoraria and allowances without a cap to the amount."

Hilbay echoed this position, saying that "the position of the OSG has always been that the COA Circular, an administrative issuance, cannot override an act of Congress."

"The Congress controls the power of the purse and therefore has clear constitutional authority to provide exceptions to general rules," Hilbay said.

"Law trumps administrative circulars. This is basic. While COA's circular may have the power to limit allowances of government employees in general, such power must yield to the power of Congress," he added.

Hilbay called on COA's resident auditors to recognize and respect the power of Congress over this matter.

"There is a reason why the right of OSG lawyers are repeated over and over again in statutes—precisely to avoid the circular imposed by COA," he said.

"There is a practical reason for these allowances: to allow the institution to retain good lawyers. Litigation takes time and expertise needs to be developed. If OSG lawyers are so easily pirated by law firms and corporations, it will prevent the government from developing a good career bureaucracy that can litigate for the republic over long periods," Hilbay added.

Hilbay also said the report was only based on the findings of the resident auditors of the agency and not the COA en banc or the Commission proper. — Anna Felicia Bajo/BM, GMA News