The Office of the Ombudsman (OMB) has ordered the six-month suspension of former Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) General Manager and current Department of National Defense (DND) Assistant Secretary Danilo Augusto Francia in connection with the alleged illegal grant of severance pay to a former colleague.
In a 15-page decision, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales found Francia and MCIAA board member Ma. Lourdes Varga-Dedal guilty of simple misconduct for granting Patria Aurora Roa, who was also regional director of the Department of Tourism, P500,000 severance pay in April 2010.
Morales said the disbursement voucher covering the grant was signed by Francia alone and without supporting documents in their obvious haste to grant Roa an undue benefit.
The Commission on Audit issued a notice of disallowance on the ground that the severance pay has no legal basis and is prohibited by Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Circular No. 2002-02.
In finding Francia and Dedal administratively liable, Ombudsman Morales stated that despite the clear prohibition under the DBM circular, “they still granted severance pay to Roa in obvious defiance [of] the DBM rules and regulation which they ought to consider in their decision-making as clearly instructed by their own charter.”
The DBM guidelines prohibit department secretaries, undersecretaries and assistant secretaries who serve as ex-officio members of the Board of Directors from receiving any remuneration in line with the Supreme Court ruling that their services in the board are already paid for and covered by the compensation attached to their principal office.
http://www.mb.com.ph/dnd-asec-suspended-over-retirement-pay-anomaly/
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