Department of the Interior and Local Government Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. said they will wait for the Commission on Audit report in connection with the release of service recognition incentive to police officers for the fiscal year 2022 after reports that some received less than the agreed amount.

Abalos, in a letter, ordered PNP Chief, Gen. Benjamin Acorda Jr., to look into the matter regarding the policies on the payout of the incentive.

“I’ve asked Gen. Acorda in a letter to look at this because it’s just a report on what investigation was done but the most important thing here is there is no conflict and that will be the CoA report,” Abalos told reporters when sought for comment on the sidelines of the signing of the memorandum of undertaking with representatives from the country’s top companies at the Eastwood Richmonde Hotel, Eastwood City, Quezon City on Thursday.

He said during the time of former President Rodrigo Duterte when the country’s facing a pandemic the former president gave incentives to AFP, police, and firefighters if the agencies have enough savings they can give up to P20,000.

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 P7,000 as per the available released agency fund for Personnel Services and Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses.

A column published in a news website on 5 May claimed that some PNP personnel received an SRI of just P4,000.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., through Administrative Order 1, authorized in December last year the release of a one-time SRI 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.

The AO authorizes the grant of a one-time SRI at a uniform rate not exceeding P20,000 for those working under the executive department.

The PNP earlier issued a memorandum circular prohibiting its personnel from posting grievances on social media, particularly on the grant of SRI 2022.