PSC releases national bets’ allowances under new system

Taken aback by the payroll-padding scam that hit the agency’s cash reserves, the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) upgraded its salary system, which caused delays in the monthly allowances of national athletes and coaches. Marc Velasco, PSC chief of staff and national training director, said correcting the payroll administration system of the agency was a necessity to avoid another irregularity that defrauded the government of at least P14 million, something the agency learned recently—and the hard way.

Paul Ignacio, an employee from PSC’s human resources department, admitted having padded the monthly payroll of athletes and coaches for the past five years and funneled the money straight into his pockets. He is facing numerous lawsuits with the PSC intent on taking back every cent of the amount he embezzled.The PSC promised all those concerned that the allowances will be deposited to the Land Bank of the Philippines on Monday.“We issued an advisory to the national team. We informed them of the delay and the cause of it,’’ Velasco said. “We understand that with the [coronavirus] crisis raging, the delay is very stressful, but the corrections were also needed.’’

Because of this, the PSC even cut allowances by half with the promise of giving the old rates back when things return to normal.

“We shifted systems, in coordination with our depository bank. It was one of the ways we saw to tighten up our process in connection with the payroll of employees and national team members,” lawyer Guillermo Iroy said. “We had to go through the details one by one.” “It affected all employees and members of the national team. This [overhaul of payroll system] was a painful but necessary action to ensure that no underhanded schemes will be done in this aspect again,’’ the PSC board said in its statement.

The sports-funding agency was rocked to its core with the discovery of the payroll-padding scam and vowed to strengthen its processes on all fronts. INQ