ILOILO CITY — The city government here will not hesitate to refund the PHP46.424 million released to city hall officials and employees in the form of Productivity Enhancement Incentive (PEI) in 2009.
Mayor Jose Espinosa III on Monday said he would first look at the decision to determine whether or not the notice of disallowance issued by the Commission on Audit is final.
He added they would also discuss the scheme to be used to pay back the amount, although it was already deducted in the salary of those that had already retired.
Espinosa added that while they could still go to court, they still would assess whether they had a valid argument or just a repetition of their former arguments.
“We will check if it’s final and if it has discrepancies,” he said. “We have no choice but to refund. We will see to it that we will comply.”
The mayor recalled that the incident happened several years ago because it was released even without clear guidelines.
The disallowed PEI was worth PHP30,000 for each regular employee of the city government.
To avoid repetition, Espinosa said that since he assumed office, he has made sure there were pronouncement and circulars to serve as his basis for the release of additional benefits to employees.
Last December, the city government released PHP5,000 as PEI of city hall employees and PHP12,000 under the collective negotiations agreement. (PNA)
