Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Benjamin Diokno plans to ask the Commission on Audit (COA) to study the overtime pay system at the Bureau of Immigration (BI).
“Pinaplano ko na mag-request sa COA para magka-audit (I plan to request COA to conduct an audit),” says Diokno.
Diokno discloses, “lumalabas ng five times ng sweldo nila ang kanilang overtime pay. Parang magic naman yon! (Findings show that their overtime pay is five times more than their salaries. That is like magic!)
Diokno maintains, overtime pay (OT) must not be more than 50 percent of the employees’ basic pay.
The secretary is ready to create new positions numbering to about one or two thousand more, if there is shortage in the number of personnel serving the BI operations on daily basis.
Diokno reports, 936 fresh positions have, in fact, been recently created in the bureau.
He adds, BI officials only have to make recommendations on just how many more employees are needed to man the sea ports and airports across the country.
Diokno’s remarks come, amid the mass resignation of 32 immigration personnel because of unpaid overtime.
The 2017 national budget has stopped the practice of using funds collected from express lane charges to cover the salaries of contractual personnel, OT and health insurance.
The lack of personnel at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) has led to long lines at immigration counters for passengers arriving from and departing for trips abroad.