MWSS still giving big bonuses–COA

MANILA, Philippines—Despite President Benigno Aquino III condemned extravagant perks given to its officers and employees early this year, the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) was found by the Commission on Audit (COA) to have overspent in 2010 because it gave excessive bonuses to its personnel.

HAPPY DAYS CONTINUE Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) was found by the Commission on Audit (COA) to have overspent in 2010 because it gave excessive bonuses to its personnel.

The COA said actual expenditures for personal services (PS) and maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) of the MWSS central office and regulatory office exceeded their approved corporate operating budgets (COB) by P167.562 million and P67.144 million, respectively.

The central office’s COB was submitted to the Department of Budget and Management only on Aug. 2, 2010, while that for the regional office was submitted on Sept. 21, 2010.

Both were approved on Dec. 29, 2010, but the DBM disallowed some of the benefits that the MWSS had been providing to its personnel. These were the same perks that the COA had asked the MWSS to stop giving in previous years.

The DBM’s approved total budget for the MWSS central office was P142.969 million, but it spent P310.531 million. The MWSS regional office’s approved budget was P100.245 million, but its expenses added up to P167.389 million.

“The differences for were mainly due to the payment of benefits and allowances disallowed by the DBM in their approved COB. These same allowances were previously disallowed by COA for lack of legal basis,” the COA said in its 2010 audit report on the MWSS.

The questioned benefits consisted of the cost of living allowance, amelioration allowance, hazard pay and midyear bonus.

The COA also said other allowances were granted to MWSS officials and employees in excess of what was allowed by the DBM in their approved COB.

One example was the anniversary bonus, which the DBM disallowed, saying that 2010 was not a milestone year for the MWSS. This was provided to the employees at a cost of P13.662 million.

The COA said the expenditures of government corporations had to be within the limits of their approved budget, and any increase during the course of the year required the approval of a supplemental budget.

It recommended that the MWSS get post facto approval for expenses incurred in excess of the DBM-approved COB.