CoA flags Bohol LGU over remittances

CoA flags Bohol LGU over remittances | Daily Tribune

The Commission on Audit has flagged the provincial government of Bohol for not fully remitting the premium contributions of its employees in the Government Service Insurance System.

In its report covering 2022, state auditors found that PGBh failed to remit in full its monthly obligations to the GSIS, comprising employees’ and employers’ share on premiums and amortizations of loans, subjecting them to penalty interests under section 7 of the GSIS Act of 1997 (RA 8291).

Moreover, the CoA said their non-compliance with the law exposed the employees to the suspension of their loan privileges with GSIS, depriving them of readily available credit facilities, especially in times of need.

Section 16.1 of the RA 8291 stipulates that all loan privileges of members of the affected agencies will be suspended, and shall be disqualified from receiving the yearly dividends.

Audit findings showed that amounts withheld from salaries for premiums and loan amortizations of PGBh employees were not fully remitted to GSIS in certain months, and there were over-remittances in other months, resulting in an over-remittance of P48,760.

“Further, when including the unremitted balance of P1,402,971.11 for the previous 12-month period beginning December 2020 and ending November 30, 2021, there is still an accumulated unremitted balance of P1,354,210.18,” the CoA said.

Meanwhile, the PGBh’s accounting office attributed the lapses to insufficient manpower. However, they pledged to adhere to the CoA’s recommendation.

Apart from the GSIS Act, PGBh needed to be more compliant with the Home Development Mutual Fund Law of 2009 (RA 9679), according to the state auditing body.

CoA found that of the P8,549,782 collected in employees’ HDMF dues, PGBh only remitted P8,493,018 to Pag-IBIG in 2022.

The non-payment of the contributions, CoA said, runs counter to Section 3, Rule VII of the IRR of RA 9679, exposing the employer to applicable penalties.

Under the provision, the employer may be liable for a penalty of three percent per month of the amounts payable from the date the contributions fall due until paid and a penalty of three percent per month of the amounts payable from the date of loan amortizations or payments fall due until paid.