DEPARTMENT OF the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. is seeking for the Commission on Audit (COA) report in connection with the release of the 2022 service recognition incentive (SRI) to police officers which showed that some received less than the agreed amount.
“Yung SRI ng mga pulis, para matapos na ito I've asked (Philippine National Police Chief Gen. [Benjamin] Acorda [Jr.] in a letter to look at this. 'Yung sa report niya, it's just a report kung anong ginawang imbestigasyon, pinakaimportante rito will be the COA report (The SRI of the police, to end this issue I've asked Gen. Acorda in a letter to look at this. So, the one in his report was just a report on what investigation was done. The most important thing here will be the COA report),” Abalos told reporters when sought for a comment on the sidelines during the signing the memorandum of undertaking (MOU) with representatives from the country's top companies held Thursday at the Eastwood Richmonde Hotel, Eastwood City, Quezon City.
He said during the time of former President Rodrigo Duterte when the country’s facing a pandemic, the former president gave incentives to the Armed Forces of the Philippines, PNP, and firefighters. If these agencies have enough savings, they can give up to PHP20,000.
In January, then PNP chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr. said that based on the report received from the PNP Finance Service, all qualified personnel received a uniform rate of PHP7,000 as per the available released fund of the agency's personnel services and maintenance and other operating expenses.
However, a column published in a news website on May 5 claimed that some PNP personnel only received PHP4,000.
"May mga reklamo, so again ang tanong may savings ba. Pangalawa, is there mismanagement of the whole operation. If there is someone who could really audit this, yan ang trabaho ng COA. Mas minabuti namin antayin na lang yung report ng COA tungkol dito (There are complaints, so again the question is, are there savings? Second, is there mismanagement of the whole operation. If there is someone who could really audit this, that is the job of the COA. We better wait for the COA report about this)," Abalos said.
The DILG chief said it's better to wait for the COA report, which is estimated to be in June. "It's just one month from now, kasi mahirap kung mag-iimbestiga kami tapos iba from the COA report, [magkakaroon ng] conflict (because it is difficult to investigate now, it may have conflict with the COA report). So, let's just wait for that)," Abalos said.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., through Administrative Order (AO) 1, authorized in December last year the release of a one-time SRI uniform rate not exceeding PHP20,000 for employees in the executive branch in recognition of the collective and invaluable contribution to the government’s continuing efforts to ensure the responsive delivery of services, especially amid the public health emergency due to the pandemic and other socio-economic challenges. (Christopher Lloyd Caliwan)
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