MANILA, Philippines?Where can you find a driver who is entitled to a car loan?

Answer: At the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS).

Drivers may avail themselves of the loan much like the rest of the MWSS employees.

The Senate committee on finance found this out Tuesday at its hearing on bonuses and allowances in government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs).

The revelation came even as the Commission on Audit (COA) disallowed ?for lack of legal basis? 33 types of bonuses amounting to a total of P156 million out of the P242 million in MWSS bonuses in 2009, Assistant Audit Commissioner Jaime Naranjo told the senators.

But MWSS officials led by officer in charge Macra Cruz said they would appeal the COA findings because they could justify the bonuses.

?I think no matter how you rationalize it, I don?t think it is proper that you have 25 types of bonuses in fantastic amounts and yet, because the COA has disapproved (them), you will have to appeal in the hope that you will get (them) again,? Sen. Franklin Drilon, committee chair, told Cruz.

The MWSS gets its income mainly from the concession fees paid by Manila Water Co. and Maynilad Water Services Inc.?concessionaires in the east and west zones of Metro Manila and nearby areas.

The MWSS earned a net income of P277 million last year, according to Cruz.

Suspend payments

Drilon called on President Benigno Aquino III to immediately issue an executive order to suspend all these payments. ?Until he does so, these people [in GOCCs] will continue to get these benefits which are really uncalled for, excessive and even obscene,? he later told reporters.

Drilon said certain MWSS officials received bonuses for 25 months on top of their 12 months of basic salary for a total pay equivalent to 37 months annually. To think that the MWSS lost P3.5 billion in 2008, according to its audited financial statement.

Cruz, for instance, got a total of P4.37 million, while ex-MWSS Chair Oscar Garcia received P5.4 million last year.

Drilon was particularly surprised that drivers at the MWSS were entitled to a car plan by virtue of the multipurpose loan given to all employees. The MWSS has about 200 employees.

?Here you have a driver who can theoretically avail himself of a car loan!? he said.

Unremitted dividends

Despite the fat bonuses, Drilon said the MWSS still owed the national government P258.6 million in unremitted dividends.

Citing COA records, he said the agency should have remitted P741 million from 1998 to 2009, but handed over only P483 million.

Cruz promised that the MWSS would remit half of the outstanding balance, an amount that would still be smaller than the amount spent on bonuses, said Sen. Ralph Recto, chair of the committee on government corporations and public enterprises.

Obligation to ex-employees

Despite the huge amount it allocates for bonuses, the MWSS still owed its former employees P451 million. Cruz said the full obligation would be settled by the second quarter of next year.

?It appears that you prioritized your bonuses over the retirement and terminal benefits of former employees,? Recto told Cruz. ?There are outstanding liabilities to old employees (but) the board has gotten more than that.?

Cruz replied: ?Noted, your honor.?

Liberal interpretation

In explaining why MWSS got bonuses despite losses registered by the agency, Cruz said: ?There was a little bit of liberal interpretation of administrative orders in 2009 in favor of the employees.?

If it would be any consolation, the MWSS officer in charge had written President Aquino suggesting ?corrective measures? on the bonuses ?which the MWSS management is ready to implement.?

Just by scrapping at least nine bonuses and reducing others, the MWSS would save at least P179 million next year, according to the five-page letter dated Aug. 18. It would mean that MWSS officials and employees could still keep at least 21 types of bonuses.

Gender dev?t bonus

Among these bonuses were the so-called ?Bigay Pala? and the equivalent of gender advocate development (GAD). Drilon said the GAD was equivalent to 5 percent of the MWSS net income to be spent on gender development programs, but was converted into a bonus.

?Don?t you have a National Heroes? Day bonus? Perhaps, next year. Think about it. You might be running out of nomenclature (for bonuses),? Drilon said in sarcasm.

He added: ??Bigay Pala? bonus? You?re shoveling? So you?re shoveling your bonuses?? ?Pala? is shovel in Filipino.

Drilon was incredulous that MWSS officials and employees got three types of Christmas bonuses. ?So you have three Christmases in one year?? he asked.

2 meetings a day

Drilon also called attention to records showing that the MWSS board held two meetings in a day allegedly so each of its members would receive twice the per diem allowance.

He said such meetings took place on April 28 and July 27 last year. Garcia?s per diem allowance totaled P994,000 in 2009.

?You split the agenda in one day, so you?ll have two meetings in one day,? Drilon told Garcia. ?You were paid twice, that?s why you met 47 times (in 52 weeks in a year).?

Budget Director Mary Grace Chua said compensation received by members of the board required approval by the Office of the President upon recommendation of the Department of Budget and Management.

?One of the things they should look at would be their financial position,? Chua said. ?It should be performance-based.?