Davao City accountant tells impeachment court some employees missed salary differentials

Some Davao City government employees did not receive salary differentials owed to them because their supporting documents were incomplete, City Accountant Vingelin Bajan told the Senate impeachment court on Tuesday, November 10, according to DZRH.

Bajan testified on Day 41 of the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte. She was responding to Senator-judge Raffy Tulfo, who asked whether all City Hall employees had been paid the differentials that followed salary adjustments under the Salary Standardization Law of 2019.

The accountant said every employee was covered by the adjustment, but she could not confirm that all had actually been paid. She explained that payroll preparation in the city government is decentralized: each office prepares its own payroll, which the accounting office then evaluates.

When asked whether Duterte was the only employee whose differential had been overlooked, Bajan said others had also missed out because of incomplete requirements. She could not say which documents were lacking in Duterte's case, noting that accounting staff, not she, had evaluated that payroll.

Tulfo questioned why Duterte's differential took years to process, especially since the delay was reportedly tied to requirements from the city mayor's office, which Duterte headed at the time. He said security guards who had complained about unpaid salary and night differentials on his radio program were paid within two to three days of submitting their requirements.

"Dito, umabot ng ilang taon bago maibigay dahil sa delayed sa pag-submit ng requirements, I find it hard to believe," Tulfo said.

The senator also raised concerns about changes to the payment voucher covering Duterte's differential, including altered dates and an added countersignature. He asked whether the document could have been changed after the impeachment proceedings began, saying the alterations raised doubts about the circumstances of the payment.

Bajan maintained that she could not explain the missing requirements or the processing delays, saying these were handled by the concerned offices and accounting personnel.