Government hospital executives ordered to refund P21.9 M in bonuses

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Audit (COA) has ordered officials and employees of three government hospitals to return more than P21.9 million in bonuses granted to them last year.

In separate 2014 reports released yesterday, state auditors directed the executives and personnel of the Philippine Heart Center (PHC), National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) and Lung Center of the Philippines (LCP) to refund the money.

The grant of excessive longevity pay to officials and employees of the PHC, NKTI and LCP was in violation of Republic Act 7305 or the Magna Carta for Public Health Workers, according to state auditors.

Under the law, health workers shall be paid a monthly longevity pay equivalent to five percent of the monthly basic salary for every five years of continuous services rendered.

The audit team said the longevity pay to be granted would be five percent of the monthly salary of the employee at the time of the grant.

However, the management of the three hospitals allegedly computed the bonuses erroneously, which resulted in excessive payments last year.

In the case of the PHC, state auditors said the first longevity pay of employees who have completed five years of service from April 17, 1992, or from the date of hiring after that date, was computed at five percent of the current monthly basic salary.

“Instead of taking five percent of the current monthly basic pay and adding the amount to the old longevity pay to arrive at the new compensation, the PHC management computed the longevity pay at 10 percent, 15 percent and 20 percent of the current monthly basic pay,” the audit team explained.

Records show that the PHC paid a total of P30.4 million in longevity pay to its employees in 2014, or  P8.9 million higher.

The hospital should have paid its employees the amount of P21.5 million, auditors said.

For the NKTI, state auditors said its officials and employees should refund P6.9 million in excessive bonuses.

The COA ordered LCP executives and personnel to reimburse a total of P6.1 million in longevity pay.

Of the three government hospitals, only the PHC defended the computation of the bonuses granted to its employees.

“The longevity pay was given to PHC employees based on Section 23 of RA 7305. The amounts paid were computed in accordance with the provisions of the law,” hospital officials said.

State auditors, however, maintained that the PHC made wrong computations.

Officials of the NKTI agreed to implement the new computation of longevity pay, but asked that those who received additional bonuses last year be given consideration. 

The LCP has submitted to the audit team its re-computation of the longevity pay for its employees.