GSIS board received P6M each in 2009

Each of the Government Service Insurance System’s (GSIS) board members received about P6 million in salaries and perks in 2009, an official of the state pension fund told a Senate inquiry Thursday.

GSIS officer-in-charge Consuelo Manansala said the compensation package included a midyear financial allowance of P600,000, a 15th month pay of P600,000, productivity bonus equivalent to four months at P600,000 (P2.4 million a year), a Christmas representation allowance of P250,000, transportation allowance of P40,000, a representation allowance of P130,000, and an annual medical check-up worth P50,000.

Sen. Franklin Drilon, head of the committee on finance that is spearheading the probe on the alleged excessive perks enjoyed by officials of government owned and controlled corporation (GOCCs), said the amount was unjustifiable.

“Since these are board members, earning P6 million a year cannot be justified,” he said, noting that each GSIS trustee only attends two meetings a month or 24 meetings a year.

He cited then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s Executive Order No. 20, which states that the salaries of GOCC officials should not exceed twice the pay of Cabinet executives.

Manansala said she thought they complied with the memorandum order. “I would think so,” she said, adding that they had secured Arroyo’s approval for the pay scheme of their trustees.

She said the GSIS charter prohibits them from spending above 12 percent of what they earn in a year. She said they only spent 5.79 percent of their more than P90 billion earnings last year.

Drilon, however, noted the 12-percent rule was set in 1977 when the revenue of the GSIS was relatively smaller.

According to GSIS executive vice president for finance Benedicto Arcinas, GSIS earned P96.1 billion in 2009 — P56 billion in contributions; P12.3 billion in loans; and P25.2 billion in investments. —Kimberly Jane Tan/KBK/VS, GMANews.TV