Management Comment:

The management adheres to carry out the recommendations of the Commission on Audit.
However, there is a need to expound on the observations made anent the applicability of the
provisions which should be dependent on the surrounding circumstances by which monetization
applied for.

As elucidated in CSC Resolution No. 00034, the general rule is that what is allowed to be
monetized are the accumulated vacation leave credits as provided for in Sec. 22 of the Omnibus
Rules on Leave. The clarification sought by Belen T. Maslan in CSC Resolution No. 00034 was
premised on whether an employee may credits. It was resolved that since the employee has
already exhausted his vacation allowed in accordance with Section 23 of MC No. 41, s. 1998,
that is, the purpose of monetization must fall under any of the exceptional circumstances, subject
to the discretion of agency head and availability of funds.

Further, COA found that one (1) officer was allowed to monetize twice a year. This
observation needs further clarification. Nowhere in Sec. 22 of the Omnibus Rules on Leave that
it shall be granted only once. xxx

Thus, an employ thee who desires to apply for monetization under Sec. 22 of the
Omnibus Rules on Leave, e.g. ten (10) days, can still apply for another ten (10) days of vacation
leave credits provided that at least five (5) days is retained. It did not even explicitly mention
that it shall be availed only once in a year. However, if an employee was granted monetization
of 30 days for a certain year, logically it follows that he can no longer avail of such privilege for
that particular year because he already attained the allowed maximum number of days.

Auditor’s Reply:

In the course of our audit regarding the granting of Monetization by the Division Office
of Dipolog City, we noted four (4) possible observations on the deficiencies as to manner of
approving and granting of Monetization, viz:

a. Two (2) officers/employees failed to meet the five (5) days vacation leave credits
balance that should be retain after deducting the monetization of leave credits
contrary to Section 22 of Omnibus Rules on Leave;

b. Eleven 11 officers/employees deducted their monetization claims against sick leave

credits without exhausting first remaining vacation leave credits balance contrary to
CSC Resolution No. 000034;

c. One officer/employee was allowed to monetize twice in a year; and

d. Seven officers/employees were allowed to monetize more than ten (10) days which
were not supported with “Request for leave covering more than ten (10) days duly
approved by the Head of Agency,” contrary to Section 5.14 of COA Circular No.
2012-001.
 In our appreciation of the management comment we may consider the justification made
on our observation under paragraph (c) considering that Sec. 22 of the Omnibus Rules on Leave
did not explicitly mention that it shall be availed only once in a year, paragraph (c) reads as
follows:

“c. One officer/employee was allowed to monetize twice in a year”

This is to emphasize that

the funding source as the basis for granting of Monetization should be come from the savings
earned by the agency after the payment of the mandatory obligations, such as: