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COA report says Calida received P7.46M excess of allowance
With an annual salary of P1,827,900, Calida is only allowed to get a sum not exceeding P913,950. (PNA photo)
The report by the Commission on Audit (COA) revealed that Solicitor General Jose Calida received an excess of P7.46 million in his allowances/honoraria.
The annual audit report of the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) for 2017 listed 15 officials who received excesses which totaled to P10,774,283.92, with Calida topping the list.
With an annual salary of P1,827,900, Calida is only allowed to get a sum not exceeding P913,950. However, audit findings cited in the report read that he received an excess amounting to P7,462,410.28 – comprising about 77.74% of all the total excess of the 15 OSG officials.
This means that the amount of allowance that Calida received reached P8,376,360.28.
Section 8 of the Republic Act (RA) 9417 allows OSG officials to receive honoraria. However, the amount is limited to the half of the annual salary.
Dated March 20, 2007, the RA states, “Other benefits – Consistent with the provisions of Executive Order No. 292, otherwise known as the Revised Administrative Code of 1987, the legal staff of the Office of the Solicitor General are allowed to receive honoraria and allowances from client departments, agencies, and instrumentalities of the government.”
Meanwhile, COAs report read, “The honoraria/allowances paid to some OSG officials for legal services and advices rendered to client agencies had exceeded the fifty percent of the annual basic salary by P10,774,283.92 contrary to Item 4 of COA Circular No. 85-25-E dated April 25, 1985.”
“Likewise, the directive of OSG Office Order No. D-188 series of 2009 dated September 9, 2009 requiring OSG lawyers to report to the Financial Management Service (FMS), OSG, the said honoraria/allowances directly received from client agencies were not faithfully adhered to; thus, the benefits received were not properly monitored for taxation purposes,” it added.
Other listed officials with excess allowances are Henry Angeles, Herman Cimafranca, James Cundangan, Renan Ramos, Rex Bernardo Pascual, Bernard Hernandez, Ma. Antonia Edita Dizon, Raymund Rigodon, Danilo Leyva, Lilian Abenojar, John Dale Ballinan, Perfecto Adelfo Chua Cheng, Leney Layu-Delfin, and Gift Mohametano.
