By Ben Rosario The Commission on Audit has ordered eight former commissioners and the entire Board of Trustees of the Social Security System (SSS) to return a total P71.613 million that has been declared unauthorized expenses by the audit agency. In a decision released yesterday by the three-man COA Commission Proper, the former and incumbent SSS officials were held liable for distributing the amount that is excess allowances and benefits paid out to the pension fund’s employees and officers in its Metro Manila branches in 2010.\ Held liable in the 2012 notice of disallowance were then SSS Commissioners Thelmo Cunanan, Marianito Roque, Jose Sonny Matula, Victorino Balais, Donald Dee, Marianita Mendoza, Sergio Ortiz Luis Jr., and Fe T. Palileo. Also ordered to refund the excess amount were SSS Relationship Management Department (RMD, now Human Resources) officer-in-charge Marissa Tizon, RMD section head Joselito delos Reyes, and assistant vice president for general accounting department Amelita dela Torre. The COA body headed by Chairman Michael Aguinaldo junked a motion for reconsideration filed by the SSS that called for the lifting of the notice of disallowance issued by the commission in 2012. Records of the case showed that the SSS had a P217.515-million approved budget for “benefits and allowances” in its 2010 corporate operating budget (COB) but records of disbursement for the year showed it paid out P553.109 million for the same item. State auditors said the amount released exceeded the budgetary allocation for the purpose by P335.594 million. According to audit documents, the largest excesses were noted in the “incentive awards” totaling P159.226 million and “Christmas bank/gift certificates” in the sum of P149.34 million. The P71.613 million indicated in the COA ruling showed that the cash perks released in SSS branches in the National Capital Region. Responding to the audit disallowance, the SSS stressed that its charter authorizes the commission to set the compensation, allowances and benefits of officers and employees. ‘The SSS insisted that the disallowed incentives are “neither new nor additional or increased benefits” which are barred by the law. The COA panel declared the motion for reconsideration unacceptable for it to reverse the audit disallowances. “It has long been settled by the Supreme Court that the SSS has no unbridled authority to grant additional benefits to its officials and employees. SSS cannot authorize the grant of the subject allowances and benefits without the prior approval of the President of the Philippines,” the ruling said. However, the COA Commission Proper ruled that the entire Board of Trustees of the SSS should likewise be held equally liable because it had a participation in authorizing the grant of the allowances and benefits. “This Commission finds those officials who authorized/approved/certified the grant or payments to have acted in bad faith. They cannot feign ignorance of the presidential directives or laws and regulations governing the compensation of government personnel,” the COA said. The state-owned insurance firm added: “They are directly responsible for authorizing and approving the payment of the disallowed benefits and are solidary liable for their reimbursement.”