CAAP employees slam P5,000 ‘disincentive’ pay
MANILA, Philippines — Instead of a pat on the back, employees of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) felt they were slapped on the face.
After successfully addressing the local aviation industry’s “triple whammy,” international downgrades and blacklists that have hounded previous administrations, employees of the CAAP — including its head William Hotchkiss III — were each given only P5,000 representing their productivity enhancement incentive (PEI).
The employees learned that the amount was much lower than the PEI received by Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC) maintenance personnel, specifically janitors, who received at least P8,000.
The current administration of CAAP is known for reaching three milestones: the restoration of the country’s category 1 rating from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA); the country’s removal from the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO’s) list of countries with significant safety concerns; and the lifting of the ban by the European Union on Philippine air carriers.
Likewise, what most CAAP employees have described as the P5,000 “disincentive” was given by the Governance Commission on Government-owned and controlled corporations (GCG) some four months after it directed them to give back nearly P1 billion in benefits, salary increases and bonuses, given to them since 2012.
A September 7 letter from the GCG, addressed to DOTC secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya and CAAP director general Hotchkiss, pointed out that the aviation authority failed to comply with the requirements under a GCG memorandum circular.
The requirements include: the achievement of at least 90 percent of the fiscal year 2014 targets; compliance with the posting of the transparency seal; and compliance with the posting or publication of the Citizen’s Charter.
According to the GCG letter, a copy of which was obtained by the Philippine Daily Inquirer, “CAAP is ineligible to grant performance-based bonus (PBB) to its officers and employees for FY 2014. Furthermore, failure to qualify for PBB means that the appointive members of the governing board of CAAP shall not be qualified to receive the performance-based incentive.”
It further states, “For having failed to meet the conditions … CAAP may only grant the 2015 productivity enhancement incentive equivalent to P5,000 to its officers and employees.”
The GCG grants two forms of productivity enhancement incentive: 100 percent of an employee’s basic pay or the P5,000 fixed bonus rate.
Recently a gathering of some 100 air safety inspectors, regular employees of the CAAP, saw them raising the issue and questioning the measly PEI.
A source, who requested anonymity for not having been authorized to speak to the media on the matter, said that during theSeptember 10 conference, the air safety inspectors appeared demoralized over the “disincentive.”
“They were asking why all CAAP employees were only given P5,000 after all that the agency has worked for and achieved,” the source told the Inquirer, referring to the FAA’s category 1 rating, the ICAO certification, and the lifting of the EU ban on Philippine air carriers.
He pointed out that the air safety inspectors were mostly retired commercial pilots who were responsible for the country’s hurdling the “triple whammy.”
The source further said that the inspectors described the GCG ruling as “unfair,” considering what the CAAP has achieved and its full compliance with the “technical” requirements of the transparency seal and the publication of the citizen’s charter.
The air safety inspectors also observed how giving them P5,000 went against the very principle by which PEIs have been granted under Executive Order 181: “as rewards for exceeding agency financial and operational performance targets, and to motivate employee efforts toward higher productivity.”
In May, the Commission on Audit and the GCG branded as illegal and disallowed salary increases and bonuses already given to CAAP employees since 2012, causing a brain drain among workers in the air traffic service where some 700 persons remain to handle the tasks of over 1,000 people.
The COA and the GCG disapproved the salary structure for 1,775 technical positions approved and implemented by the CAAP board since 2012 and six months of bonuses given to nearly 4,000 employees of the aviation regulating body. Salary increases from P10,000 to P14,000 have been given since October, 2012 while the six months of bonuses were given separately in 2012, 2013, and 2014.
The CAAP management wrote and appealed the disapproval to the Office of the President but the matter apparently never reached Mr. Aquino and remains unresolved. SFM
