COA hits agency monitoring GOCCs over ‘excessive hiring’

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Audit (COA) found that the state agency monitoring government owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) incurred unnecessary expenses related to excessive hiring.

In an audit report released on Wednesday, April 18, COA said the Governance Commission for GOCCs (GCG) spent P15.622 million on hiring 47 contractual employees.

The hiring of the 47 contractual employees cost the GCG P1.3 million monthly.

State auditors said the agency, which is under the Office of the President, could have reduced its expenses if it just filled up available plantilla positions – 20 vacancies out of the 99 approved positions.  

In addition to unnecessary expenses, COA also questioned the GCG’s policy of not monitoring work attendance of lawyers. Personnel records showed that 6 lawyers only submitted handwritten time records without additional documentation.

According to COA, exempting lawyers from using biometric clocks to record their work hours is inconsistent with Executive Order No. 292 and Memorandum Circular No. 3 issued by the Office of the President in August 2016. 

“This could result in the improper recording of attendance, including leave of absences and undertimes incurred by the GCG lawyers,” the commission said. – Rappler.com