It is interesting and exciting to watch the outcome of clashing state regulatory agencies (constitutional bodies at that) —Commission on Audit and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The regulator of companies and securities, capital market institutions and participants—the Securities and Exchange Commission—has charged from its retained earnings in 2012, the pay increases granted to the chairperson, a former commission, the director of financial management, and the directors for budget and accounting and select employees amounting to P92.74 million, which the Commission on Audit disallowed.
The COA is now asking the former SEC chair Teresita Herbosa and four other officials and personnel to refund the pay raise, “with finality.”
The Commission on Audit (COA) refused to reconsider its earlier ruling to disallow the pay hike authorized by the following SEC officials: Teresita Herbosa, former chairperson; Eladio M. Jala, former commissioner; Adelaida C. Navarro-Banaria, Financial Management Division director; Thoureth S. dela Cruz, Budget Division director; Renato A. Santos, Accounting Division director and SEC officials and employees who received the salary increases
In a four-page resolution, the COA Commission Proper told the SEC officials and employees to refund the P92.74 million.
The SEC executives and personnel claimed that their commission had the full authority to determine their compensation package and didn’t need to secure the Philippine president’s prior approval for such, Rappler reported.
They also tried to justify drawing the salary increases from SEC’s retained income, saying that nothing in the Securities Regulation Code prohibited it.
COA, however, cited a later law and Supreme Court decision to debunk SEC’s rehashed arguments.
It said the special provisions of the 2012 budget law – the year SEC granted those salary increases – in fact specified that SEC salary adjustments were “subject to the approval of the President, upon the recommendation of the DBM” or the Department of Budget and Management.
“Thus, the argument that the SEC has full authority to create its own compensation and position classification system and qualification standards necessarily fails,” the COA said.
In 2021, the High Court already ruled in the case filed by the SEC against COA that it was improper for the SEC to charge personal services against its retained income.
Tags: #COA, #SEC, #constitutionalbodies, #stateregulators