(Eagle News) — The Commission on Audit has flagged what it said were the excessive allowances received by Solicitor General Jose Calida and several lawyers of the Office of the Solicitor General.
In its 2017 report, COA said Calida, Henry Angeles, Herman Cimafranca, James Candangan, Renan Ramos, Rex Bernardo Pascual, Bernard Hernandez, Ma. Antonia Edita Dizon, Raymund Rigodon, Danilo Leyva, Lilian Abenojar, John Dale Ballinan, Perfecto Adelfo Chua Cheng, Laney Layug-Delfin, and Gift Mohametano received allowances above the cap allowed for the extra compensation based on a COA circular issued in 1985.
The circular pegged the cap at 50 percent of the lawyer’s annual basic salary.
According to COA, all lawyers received excess allowances amounting to P10,774,283.93, which it said “were directly remitted to OSG lawyers but not reported to [the Financial Management System].”
Calida, for instance, it said, received P7.46 million in excess allowances even when he was only allowed to receive P913,950 in excess allowance and honoraria based on the COA circular.
The COA said his annual salary was P1.827 million.
Angeles, it said, received P697,039 in excess allowances; Cimafranca, P62,454; Candangan, P448,707; Ramos, P837,252; Pascual, P9,394; Hernandez, P136,814; Dizon, P273,746; Rigodon, P363,894; Leyva, P50,051; Abenojar, P90,626; Ballinan, P99,026; Cheng, P158,501; Delfin, P70,626; and Mohametano, P13,739.
Excessive travels
COA also noted that some OSG personnel had “excessive claims” on hotel accommodations and expenses in local and foreign trips.
The amounts P53,796 and P78,096.64, respectively, it said, “were more than the allowable travel expenses,” or more than the P800 per day allowed under EO 298.
Against all these, COA said “seven employees net take home pay is below the mandated minimum amount of ₱4,000 due to accommodation for payroll deduction of employee obligations.”
It recommended that the excess allowances and travel expenses be refunded.
The COA report was released amid criticisms for alleged conflict of interest against Calida.
The criticisms stem from his family’s security agency bagging over P200 million worth of contracts from several government agencies.
But Calida has defended himself from the accusations, saying that he already resigned as president and chairman of the firm even before he assumed the post as Solicitor General.
He, however, still owns 60 percent of the shares of the company.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque defended Calida, saying the SolGen was a mere shareholder and did not exercise “management powers” in the company.
President Rodrigo Duterte also defended Calida, saying Calida’s security agency was already existing even before the SolGen assumed his current post in government.
He added government personnel can invest.
