BCDA executive: I’m no ‘Garci’ general

MANILA, Philippines – Retired Armed Forces chief Narciso Abaya Jr. denied yesterday that he was involved in the “Hello, Garci” electoral fraud in 2004.

“I was not implicated in this ‘Hello, Garci’ controversy nor in alleged fraudulent election,” he said. “My name was never mentioned in investigations.”

His name was not mentioned in taped telephone conversations allegedly between then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and former elections official Virgilio Garcillano, he added.

Meanwhile, Abaya, now Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) president and chief executive officer, said the agency’s charter requires that its officials and employees should have salaries at least equivalent to those in the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

The idea is that BCDA would be able to attract qualified officials, he added.

Abaya said when he was named BCDA chief, he was offered the salary received by his predecessor, but that he opted for a lower rate.

“Whatever will be the outcome of the (congressional) investigation (into GOCCs) in terms of legislation, we will welcome that, including those that will control compensation,” he said.

Senate: GOCC, GFI directors get millions of pesos yearly

Many directors of government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCC) and government financial institutions (GFI) received perks amounting to several millions of pesos every year, a Senate investigation has revealed.

Sen. Franklin Drilon, Senate committee on finance chairman, said that he would propose that Congress pass a public enterprise and corporate governance act to review the mandates of the 157 GOCCs and GFIs.

“We will also ask the proposed government corporate monitoring and coordinating council (to conduct) a review of the salary structure and compensation system of the GOCCs,” he said.

Drilon said Congress will also strengthen the government corporate monitoring and coordinating council so it would become more effective in checking the operations of the GOCCs and GFIs, including compensation being received by executives and board members.

“This is our opportunity to make a review of the GOCCs because they constitute a major, major sector of our government,” he said.

Drilon said that the council will also be empowered to dissolve or merge the mandates of the different agencies.

“They will have the authority to impose certain standards of performance for the appointment of the board of directors so that we can have rules on the qualifications of the directors in the different GOCCs,” he said.

The bill would be presented for debate before Oct. 15, Drilon said.

The Senate has ended its hearings on the alleged excessive salaries and perks of GOCC and GFI officials.

The Senate has reviewed 19 GOCCs and five GFIs, according to Drilon.

Clark airport head decries COA report

At Clark Freeport, Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) president and chief executive officer Victor Jose Luciano decried yesterday a Commission on Audit report showing him as one of the highest paid executives of GOCCs.

Speaking to reporters, Luciano said the P3.2 million he received last year that placed him on the 90th slot in the COA list included allowances and other allocations.

“Some sectors” want to put me in a bad light before the administration because of reports he would be retained as CIAC chief, he added.

Luciano distributed to reporters yesterday copies of the COA report which named Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority administrator Armand Arreza as the highest paid GOCC official with P26.9 million in salaries and allowances, followed by Clark Development Corp. (CDC) president and chief executive officer Benigno Ricafort with P14.5 million.

Earlier, however, Arreza and Ricafort said their basic pay was much less than what was stated in the COA report.

His take-home pay amounted to only about P113,000 a month, Ricafort said.

At the bottom of the COA list at number 281 was Oliveros Floro of the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) who received P1.7 million.

Luciano distributed to media a full accounting of the P3.2 million which showed that the amount included his net “take home pay” of only P1.6 million for the entire 2009.

“The total also includes P438,000 per diems, medical benefit worth P79,346, clothing and uniform worth P8,500, bonus and incentives worth P387,852, and cost of living and other allowances worth P33,000,” he said.

The other CIAC executives in the COA list were executive vice president Alexander Cauguiran with salaries and allowances amounting to P2.4 million, and CIAC vice president Romeo Dyoco Jr. with P2.1 million.

The COA list bared more officials from the Social Security System, Land Bank of the Philippines, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Philippine Deposit and Insurance Corp. and Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System, who earned more from salaries and allowances than Luciano in 2009. At the SSS, 13 officials received higher pay and allowances than Luciano.

“When I assumed the post as CIAC head in 2002, my statement of assets and liabilities indicated my assets to be worth P80 million,” he said.

“That has remained more or less the same up to now.”

A CIAC report showed Luciano’s foreign trips cost P728,022 and Cauguiran, P673,162.

“The travels produced concrete results, such as more flights at the DMIA and a commitment from Singapore Airlines to establish a second hangar at the airport,” Luciano said.

The CIAC runs a 2,500-hectare aviation complex at Clark, including the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport. – Paolo Romero, Marvin Sy, Ding Cervantes, (The Philippine Star)