DOF to do away with hefty allowances in GOCCs, GFIs

MANILA, Philippines – The hefty salaries, allowances and perks of officials of government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCC) and government financing institutions (GFI) may soon be a thing of the past, particularly those enjoyed by officials of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS).

Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima made this clear yesterday at the sidelines of the 106th founding anniversary of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), one of the attached agencies of the Department of Finance (DOF).

“I think we should start first with governance level and this is the chairman, the CEO, and the members of the board,” Purisima told Palace reporters in a chance interview at the BIR covered court in Quezon City.

According to the DOF chief, the benchmarking that they wanted to achieve “should be reasonable so that it is comparable to what the private sector gets, but should not be totally out of line like the one that happened in the MWSS.”

Purisima said they are now in the process of evaluating all the necessary information as regards salaries, emoluments and the like.

“Just like how we normally reconcile issues, we sit down and discuss things. Well, I think at the more reasonable level,” he said.

“We were going through the study and I’d rather wait for the draft of the proposal and work with the Department of Budget and Management, then after that we submit it to the President,” he added.

In his July 26 State of the Nation Address, President Aquino disclosed that MWSS officials have accorded themselves up to 30th month salary, and housing and car loans, among others, to the detriment of its retirees, who have yet to be paid their retirement dues.

The finance and budget departments are coming up with a benchmark on how much will be the uniform salaries, allowances, bonuses and perks of every GOCC, to prevent whimsical abuses like that of the MWSS.

Purisima and Budget Secretary Florencio Abad are working on a “standard of pay or allowances” for all GOCCs and GFIs, to “avoid repeating the excesses” in the MWSS. The proposal will be submitted to President Aquino for approval.

“We’re working on these guidelines right now. But it will indicate a range of acceptable packages, pay, as well as allowances, hoping this will be done across-the-board. Ideally, in a meritocracy, it depends on performance with certain base,” Purisima said.

“We will also make a proposal that all directors that are appointed will sign a covenant with us on good governance so that we can assure that they will actually take the interest of the government rather than their own when they sit in those boards,” he added.

However, the proposal on GOCC pay benchmarks will have to wait because the 2011 national budget is the priority in the meantime.

“We have to finish the budget first because there’s a deadline for the budget. The benchmark will include both salaries and perks… the whole thing,” Purisima stressed.

What would be good news to officials and employees of GOCCs and GFIs, however, is that the compensation scale may be patterned after corporations in the private sector.

“That’s what we’re trying to establish. I suppose benchmarking it with the private sector is not a bad start. That should probably be the cap. But somewhere in between what we in the government get and what those in the private sector get might be the best,” the finance chief said. –Delon Porcalla (The Philippine Star)