The Commission on Audit (CoA) has directed the National Police Commission (Napolcom) to refund P5.8 million in “unauthorized” allowances and benefits given to its officers in 2023, despite previous recommendations by state auditors to cease this practice in earlier years.

Audit findings revealed that Napolcom’s Regional Office 6 continued to distribute a total of P5,823,820 in allowances to its officials and employees last year “without legal basis.”

Auditors had raised this issue as early as 2019 and 2020, when they flagged unauthorized allowances of more than P5 million and over P25 million, respectively, granted by the agency without legal authority or specific approval.

In addition to the recent transaction, the Commission on Audit also noted that Napolcom had issued unauthorized incentives to its officers and employees in previous years.

“The continuous grant of unauthorized benefits demonstrated that management in Region VI did not take the audit findings, recommendations, or NDs (notice of disallowance) seriously since they asserted that the disallowances are still under appeal. Moreover, it demonstrated the inadequacy of the internal controls,” the auditing body stressed.

The CoA was referring to the NDs amounting to P22.4 million that were already issued against Napolcom in the prior year. An ND (Notice of Disallowance) is issued by state auditors for transactions deemed “irregular, unnecessary, excessive, extravagant,” or those considered illegal and unconscionable. The breakdown of unauthorized transactions revealed that the largest portion, amounting to P1.63 million, was used by Napolcom for the distribution of basic commodity allowances, while P1.56 million was allocated for special welfare allowances.

Meanwhile, P1.22 million was distributed to pay for rice subsidy allowance, P612,000 for dietary supplements, P510,000 for annual laboratory tests, P170,000 for ISO incentives, and P116,820 for food basket allowance.

Auditors cited emphasized that under Section 4 of the Government Auditing Code of the Philippines, no money shall be paid out of any public treasury or depository except in pursuance of an appropriation law or other specific statutory authority.

“The lack of basis for continuously granting the allowances and benefits resulted in wastage of public funds which could have been utilized for other meaningful projects and activities of the agency,” the CoA stated.

Napolcom, meanwhile, clarified that Regional Office 6 has agreed to halt the payment of unauthorized allowances this year. However, it stated that a refund will only be made depending on the outcome of the appeal filed by those responsible for the disbursed funds.