Make money or lose jobs, Aquino tells GOCC heads

PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III on Friday required the directors of government-owned and -controlled corporations to sign a performance contract so they can be removed if they fail to deliver.

Mr. Aquino announced the new policy as he received P29 billion in dividends from various state-owned and controlled corporations in Malacañang.

Five companies made it to the Billionaires’ Club: the Bangko Sentral with P14.23 billion in dividends; Land Bank of the Philippines with P4 billion; the Development Bank of the Philippines with P2.8 billion; the Bases Conversion Development Authority with P1.8 billion; and the Manila International Airport Authority with P1.49 billion.

Mr. Aquino said the money would be used to boost the economy, reduce poverty, and enhance the government’s social services.

“GOCCs will no longer be milking cows for politicians and their wards,” Mr. Aquino said.

“Also, we are working on a process that will require GOCC directors to sign a performance contract with the Office of the President and their supervising secretaries. Non-performance of a material obligation will be a cause for removal from the board.”

Earlier, the President extended the suspension of the bonuses, incentives, and other perks for the board members of state-owned corporations to Jan. 31. These companies’ top officials would receive only their basic salaries and “reasonable per diem” until the review was completed.

The President also ordered a moratorium on the increases in salaries, allowances, incentives and other benefits—except those adjustments covered by the Salary Standardization Law—until those increases were approved by the Palace.

Last year, the President created a task force to review all the remuneration granted to the board members, officers and rank-and-file employees of state-owned and -controlled corporations, and then to recommend measures that would rationalize the compensation system.

He created the group after reports said that the officials of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System had given themselves 30-month bonuses. –Joyce Pangco Pañares, Manila Standard Today