Aquino OK’d bonuses for PCSO execs—Juico

PCSO Chairperson Margarita Juico. FILE PHOTO

Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office Chairperson Margarita Juico on Monday decried a Philippine Daily Inquirer report that said PCSO directors improperly received millions in benefits in 2010, saying that agency officials had sought and secured the President’s approval of its board members’ compensation package.

The Inquirer earlier disclosed details of the Commission on Audit 2010 report on the PCSO, where the audit agency said the PCSO’s directors received over P4 million in benefits from Sept. 8 to Dec. 31, 2010, despite the President having  issued Executive Order (EO) No. 7 suspending such allowances and incentives until new policies on compensation had been issued.

EO No. 7 was issued on Sept. 8, 2010.

The COA said in the report that the PCSO should seek from the President an ex-post facto or retroactive approval of the allowances and benefits that the board had received, or it would disallow these. In the same report, the COA quoted PCSO’s response, which was that it was in the process of securing the presidential approval.

Juico, in a letter to the Inquirer, said the PCSO discontinued all the salaries and benefits of the board when the Governance Commission for GOCCs (government-owned and -controlled corporations) law took effect last year.

The board, according to her, only retained the per diem for each meeting, which is a maximum of P864,000 per annum for the chair and P768,000 per annum for each board member.

“This is comparable to what a regular government employee with salary grade 15 receives,” Juico said. “This is the reason why we decry the wrong and baseless imputations in the article.”

Juico said the PCSO’s charter states that the President determines the compensation of the PCSO board.