Speaker Feliciano Belmonte. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — House speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. has admitted he was asked to receive millions of pesos in bonuses when he was the Government Service and Insurance System (GSIS) representative to a private firm almost three decades ago.
The Lower House speaker made the statement amid reports that the Commission on Audit (COA) has ordered 31 government-owned and -controlled corporations to refund some P2.313 billion in bonuses and allowances after these were deemed unauthorized.
He said as GSIS president and member of the board of directors in San Miguel Corp. from 1986 to 1992, he received a Christmas bonus worth millions of pesos from the diversified conglomerate.
Belmonte did not cite the exact figure.
“When I was president of GSIS… and director of San Miguel… (in) December, they gave me a check worth several millions of pesos. ‘Yun daw ang Christmas bonus ng lahat ng directors. (That’s the Chrismas bonus for all the directors),” Belmonte said.
He declined to receive the money he deemed intended for the GSIS.
“That caught me flabbergast and they told me all my predecessors were getting the same amount,” he said.
Belmonte added that he then asked San Miguel to change the payee to GSIS and not to him.
“I told them, ‘Please change the payee to GSIS because that’s GSIS money, not money of Sonny Belmonte,” he said.
Although the money involved is not government money, Belmonte cited his experience as an example for the Lower House to launch an inquiry on the guidelines for issuing the excess bonuses for GOCCs.
“If we find out that it’s all everybody for himself, then we can come up with reasonable guidelines for the benefit of everybody so that (officials) will not feel they are deprived compared to the private sector,” he said.
“But still, government shouldn’t be compared to private sector,” Belmonte added.