The Commission on Audit (COA) has warned local government units against paying their employees less than the mandated P5,000 net monthly take home pay.

COA cited the case of Agusan del Norte's 57 provincial employees whose net take home salaries in 2023 were less than the mandated P5,000.

It said that Section 56 of the General Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2023 mandates that obligations due to agencies such as the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) as well as contributions to PhilHealth, Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), and Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF) should not "reduce the employee’s monthly net take home pay to an amount lower than P5,000."

Despite the mandate, COA said its review of Agusan del Norte's payroll for 2023 showed that 57 employees received salaries below the required amount.

It said that those who received less than P5,000 net monthly pay were from Agusan del Norte's Provincial Health Office, 19; Provincial Engineering Office, eight; Provincial Planning and Development Office, eight; Provincial Governor's Office, five; Jabonga Municipal Hospital, four; and Nasipit District Hospital (4).

There were also two employees each from the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office and Provincial Treasurer's Office, and one each from the Provincial Agriculture's Office, Provincial Assessor's Office, Provincial General Services Office, Provincial Human Resource Management Office, and Cabadbaran District Hospital.

"The salaries the said personnel were below the required net take home pay of P5,000 due to payment of obligations to their existing loans with GSIS and HDMF, and the adjustment of personnel’s withholding tax," COA said.

"Having a net take home pay of less than P5,000 is contrary to the provisions of Section 56 of the General Appropriations Act (GAA) for Fiscal Year 2023, and it may affect the work performance of the respective employees," it said.

In 2022, COA said there were 108 employees who received less that the mandatory net take home pay monthly.

It said its auditor were told that 33 out of the 57 employees are currently burdened with various obligations, so several reforms have been undertaken to increase their income.

It recommended that the provincial government should ensure that the approval of loan applications of personnel should not cause their net take home pay to be below P5,000 as required by the GAA.

"The adjustments on the withholding taxes of personnel [should] be made earlier than December to reduce the amount to be deducted in the personnel’s salary in order to maintain the compliance with the required net take home pay," it also said.