G.R. No. 247787 - DEVELOPMENT BANK OF THE PHILIPPINES, VS. COMMISSION ON AUDIT.

Ruling

WHEREFORE , premises considered, the instant appeal is hereby DENIED . Accordingly, the subject ND on the increase in the compensation of DBP senior officers is hereby AFFIRMED . [6] (Emphasis in the original.) Aggrieved, the DBP filed a petition for review before the COA. [7] The DBP invoked Memorandum dated April 22, 2010 where former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo approved the implementation of its compensation plan from 1999 onward. [8] On February 1, 2012, the COA granted the petition and lifted the notice of disallowance, [9] thus: The subsequent approval by the President of the DBP's Compensation Plan for 1999 made the principal issue of the absence of Presidential approval moot and academic. In COA Decision No. 97-689 dated November 4, 1997, this Commission ruled that: [I]n the light of the post-facto approval or ratification of the Office of the President which in effect legitimizes or legalizes the grant of the social amelioration benefit to the employees of the Sugar Regulatory Commission pursuant to the pertinent provision of Corporate Compensation Circular No. 10, this Commission hereby gives due course to the instant request for reconsideration. [x x x]. This case is no different, since the only basis for the subject ND was the absence of Presidential approval pursuant to M.O. No. 20. This being the case, the approval of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has legitimized the compensation plan of DBP and the reason for the disallowance has ceased to exist. x x x x WHEREFORE , foregoing premises considered, the instant petition is GRANTED . Accordingly, CGS-A Decision No. 2010-001 dated June 2, 2010 is SET ASIDE and ND No. SOC-2006-12(06) dated June 19, 2007 on the increase of DBP's senior officers' compensation in the total amount of [P]17,380,307.64 is LIFTED . [10] (Emphases supplied.) On February 6, 2012, the DBP received a copy of the COA Decision but did not file any motion for reconsideration or a petition to the Supreme Court. On March 27, 2012, Mario P. Pagaragan (Pagaragan), the Vice President/Officer-In-Charge of DBP's Program Evaluation Department, submitted confidential letters to the COA asking to reconsider its Decision dated February 1, 2012. The letters explained that Section 261(g)(2) of the Omnibus Election Code prohibits the grant of salary increase within 45 days before a regular election. As such, President Arroyo's post facto approval of DBP's compensation plan on April 22, 2010 is void because it was made within the 45-day period before the May 10, 2010 elections. [11] On April 13, 2015, the COA treated Pagaragan's letters as a motion for reconsideration and exercised its power under Section 52 of Presidential Decree (PD) No. 1445 or the Government Auditing Code of the Philippines to open and revise settled accounts. The COA found the motion meritorious and reversed its Decision dated February 1, 2012, viz .: This Commission shall treat the letters as a motion for reconsideration (MR) pursuant to Section