With the Commission on Audit (COA) recently ordering Iloilo Lone District Rep. Jerry Treñas and dismissed Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog to refund P46.4 million after their productivity enhancement incentive (PEI) for 2009, when they served as mayor and vice mayor, respectively, was disallowed, current Iloilo City Mayor Jose Espinosa III said he will look into the possibility of paying the refund.

“We have no choice but to refund,” he said. “We will see to it that we will comply.”

However, the mayor did note a review of the details would be in store.

“We will check if it’s final and if it has discrepancies,” Espinosa added.

Nearly P31.4 million of the total amount was taken for the city’s calamity fund that year, which was declared an “unappropriated surplus,” and later disallowed by the COA-Region VI.

Meanwhile, Treñas was recently dismissed by the Sandiganbayan Seventh Division on graft charges, while Mabilog has been out of the country since the end of August 2017 and has since been dismissed twice by the Office of the Ombudsman on graft and misconduct charges./PLL, WDJ