GSIS board members get P60m in annual pay

While state workers constantly complain about the restrictive rules of the Government Service Insurance System in the grant of benefits, top executives of the pension fund are enriching themselves through fat compensation.

Each of the l0 members of the board of trustees of the GSIS pockets about P6 million a year in allowances and bonuses, according to a report received by theSenate finance committee chaired by Senator Frank Drilon.

The compensation of GSIS board members includes P600,000 in mid-year financial allowance, l5th month pay of P600,000, productivity bonus equivalent to four months at P600,000 per month or a total of P2.4 million, Christmas representation allowance of P250,000 and P40,000 transportation allowance, Drilon said.

Also part of the compensation package are the Pl30,000 representation allowance, P5,000 allowance for every board meeting and P5,000 cash gift and other privileges such as annual medical checkup worth P50,000 and a car loan, among others.

GSIS officer-in-charge Consuelo Manansala confirmed that each GSIS board member received about P6 million in total compensation last year. She said the compensation package depends on the increase in the net income of the System. She claimed that the board members received less benefits in previous years.

“We have to do something in order to rationalize the compensation that has gone awry,” Drilon said. He decried the rampant violation of Malacanang’s Memorandum Circular No. 20 which requires that the compensation of executives of government-owned or –controlled corporations should not exceed twice the regular pay of Cabinet members.

Meanwhile, former GSIS president and general manager Winston Garcia had given the GSIS a total of P3l.9 million in fees and bonuses that he received as a member of the board of directors of the San Miguel Corporation representing the state pension fund from 2000 to 2004.

GSIS executive vice president for finance Benedicto Arcinas said it was a policy of the System to require its representatives to remit to the state firm the earnings they received from private corporations where the System had investments. –Fel Maragay, Manila Standard Today