THE People’s Television Network Inc.’s (PTNI) 2020 payroll totaling P189.78 million is being questioned by government auditors on issues of legality, validity and propriety due to one key problem — the salaries and benefits paid to employees was not backed by properly filled-up daily time records (DTRs).
Based on the breakdown in the audit report, P135.65 million was paid to COS hires, P52.58 million to regular employees, and P1.55 million to contractuals.
Auditors said the management submitted DTRs of COS personnel covering the first half of 2020 but the documents were defective and had to be returned to the Administrative Division. They noted that the DTRs were not signed by the concerned employees and did not bear the stamp of approval by their supervisors.
The Administrative Division was supposed to address the issue and return the DTRs fully signed and duly approved but six months until the end of the year, the documents have not been returned to the audit team.
According to the Commission on Audit, the PTNI has been repeatedly notified about this problem but has continued the practice for years.
“The audit team would like to point out that this practice of submitting incomplete supporting documents specifically the DTRs for the payments of salaries of permanent, contractual, and COS personnel has been observed for several years now,” the agency said.
In response, the PTNI management gave assurances that in the future all payrolls will be supported by properly executed DTRs.
It added that instructions have been given to officers concerned to submit the DTRs for 2020 to the audit team in compliance with the audit recommendation.
