Days of excess over; protest at MWSS

Weather forecaster Jori Loiz sometimes has no fare money because of his low salary, but a driver at the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) gets a monthly salary of nearly P100,000.

Until about 2009, a driver for the MWSS used to receive about P97,000 a month and he was not even working for a high-profile, multinational company but a government-owned and -controlled corporation (GOCC).

By September 1 this year, with the removal of illegal allowances and bonuses, that same package would be trimmed to about P38,000 a month.  But that will still be way above what drivers in other companies get, MWSS Chairman Ramon Alikpala said in a phone interview Wednesday.

33 types of bonuses

In 2010, the Senate committee on finance found that the COA had identified 33 types of bonuses amounting to a total of P156 million out of the P242 million in MWSS bonuses in 2009.

The MWSS bonuses were disclosed during a hearing on bonuses and allowances at GOCCs.

“I will not even comment on whether the total package is too high or what, just that the allowances and bonuses included before were illegal, as pointed out by the Commission on Audit (COA),” Alikpala said.

Lacking legal basis

Alikpala said the MWSS board of directors had looked into COA reports and found that many allowances and bonuses really lacked a legal basis. Two weeks ago, he said, the board decided to stop the illegal payments.

“Employees’ representatives were present when the board explained the findings,” he said.

“There is also a move, in cooperation with the Government Commission for GOCCs, to raise the standard of salaries so that we can be competitive in hiring good people. But we have not even started meeting on how to do that and already there are protests and smear campaigns from a small group of employees who do not want us to stop what they used to receive.”

No way

Alikpala said the group of complaining employees asked whether the illegal allowances and bonuses could be maintained while the plans to raise salary standards were being finalized.

No way. Alikpala said, “We already know which are illegal benefits so we cannot keep giving them out, otherwise we would be no different from the previous boards. We had to comply with the COA findings and institute reforms. For example, the board members are not allowed bonuses and there is a cap to what we can actually receive, so I would say we are more objective.”

The COA, for instance, found no legal basis for the P150 per day meal allowance for employees so this was reduced to P3, based on a decadesold order from the budget department.

Car plans

All employees, including drivers, previously had car plans under which the MWSS paid 60 percent of the cost and the employees paid 40 percent over five years with minimal interest, Alikpala said.

There were also allowances that were supposed to have been folded into the monthly salary but were still being given on top of the “integrated salary,” he said.

“We are putting a stop to the days of excess, and we are getting strong opposition from those who have become so used to them,” Alikpala said.

The disgruntled employees, he said, have been spreading false information against MWSS officials in the media, probably to get them replaced by others who will not be as uncompromising.

Setting the example

Alikpala said: “We set the example by removing the excessive allowances of the board members. Now, we even get less than what is allowed. But these employees claim the board meets several times a day to collect our per diems. The truth is the board meets only twice a month.”

Once a board member reaches the cap allowed for the per diem, he will no longer get paid no matter how many more times the board meets, Alikpala added.

Disgruntled employees had also claimed that the management has hired more than 400 consultants and paid them retroactively.

“We hired less than 30 and they are paid only for actual services,” Alikpala said. “We also hired 162 foresters to take care of the Ipo watershed with proper approval from the Department of Budget and Management, contrary to claims that the hirings were not authorized.”

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