COA upholds disallowance of business class airfare paid by DOT official
Published Sep 3, 2019 09:50 pm
By Ben Rosario
The Commission on Audit has ordered a retired government lawyer to return P101,827.60 paid by the Department of Tourism for a business class plane fare for her trip to attend an international conference in Costa Rica in 2009.
Commission on Audit (MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
In a decision recently handed down by the three-man COA-Commission Proper, lawyer Maria Victoria J. Jasmin was cleared of returning P264,120.61 which was the original computation of her plane fare to Costa Rica where she attended the 8th Meeting of the World Committee on Tourism Ethics conducted by the United Nations World Tourism Organization.
However, the COA-CP still held her liable for payment of P101,827.60, the amount corresponding to the difference between the cost of the business class and economy class tickets she paid for in attending the 2009 international conference.
The audit body conducted an automatic review of Jasmin’s case after the Cluster Director (CD) of COA National Government Sector-Cluster 7 ruled in 2018 that the former DOT official is not entitled to fly on business class to Costa Rica where she attended the two day international conference.
Jasmin, nominated as the permanent representative of the Commission for East Asia and the Pacific to the WCTE, was invited to attend the UNWTO conference and flew to Costa Rica on an American Airlines flight.
She procured a business class ticket from the Action Holidays Tour Corporation.
Upon examination of the deal, the auditors suspended payment for the business class air fare and held her liable, together with Violeta Florentino and then Tourism Secretary Joseph H. Durano.
In the review of the case, Jasmin justified her business class flight by relying on the “doctrine of qualified political agency”, saying that this exempted her from liability. She cited numerous Supreme Court jurisprudence on the issue.
“However, this Commission is not convinced that the approval of her availment of the business class tickets by Secretary Durano was equivalent to the approval by the President,” the COA-CP explained.
A government official may only be allowed to purchase non-economy class air fare if approved by the chief executive.
The COA panel said that Executive Order NO. 298 provides that official transportation shall be restricted to economy class “unless otherwise authorized by the President.”
“Hence, the approval of the President of the transportation other than that restrict economy class cannot be substituted by the approval of the DOT secretary in the guise of the doctrine of qualified political agency,” the COA-CP ruled.
“Although the disallowance is proper, this Commission agrees with the CD in reducing the amount disallowed from P264,120.61 to P101,827.60 corresponding to the difference between the costs of the business class and economy class tickets,” the COA-CP chaired by Chairman Michael Aguinaldo stated.
Commission on Audit (MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
In a decision recently handed down by the three-man COA-Commission Proper, lawyer Maria Victoria J. Jasmin was cleared of returning P264,120.61 which was the original computation of her plane fare to Costa Rica where she attended the 8th Meeting of the World Committee on Tourism Ethics conducted by the United Nations World Tourism Organization.
However, the COA-CP still held her liable for payment of P101,827.60, the amount corresponding to the difference between the cost of the business class and economy class tickets she paid for in attending the 2009 international conference.
The audit body conducted an automatic review of Jasmin’s case after the Cluster Director (CD) of COA National Government Sector-Cluster 7 ruled in 2018 that the former DOT official is not entitled to fly on business class to Costa Rica where she attended the two day international conference.
Jasmin, nominated as the permanent representative of the Commission for East Asia and the Pacific to the WCTE, was invited to attend the UNWTO conference and flew to Costa Rica on an American Airlines flight.
She procured a business class ticket from the Action Holidays Tour Corporation.
Upon examination of the deal, the auditors suspended payment for the business class air fare and held her liable, together with Violeta Florentino and then Tourism Secretary Joseph H. Durano.
In the review of the case, Jasmin justified her business class flight by relying on the “doctrine of qualified political agency”, saying that this exempted her from liability. She cited numerous Supreme Court jurisprudence on the issue.
“However, this Commission is not convinced that the approval of her availment of the business class tickets by Secretary Durano was equivalent to the approval by the President,” the COA-CP explained.
A government official may only be allowed to purchase non-economy class air fare if approved by the chief executive.
The COA panel said that Executive Order NO. 298 provides that official transportation shall be restricted to economy class “unless otherwise authorized by the President.”
“Hence, the approval of the President of the transportation other than that restrict economy class cannot be substituted by the approval of the DOT secretary in the guise of the doctrine of qualified political agency,” the COA-CP ruled.
“Although the disallowance is proper, this Commission agrees with the CD in reducing the amount disallowed from P264,120.61 to P101,827.60 corresponding to the difference between the costs of the business class and economy class tickets,” the COA-CP chaired by Chairman Michael Aguinaldo stated.