What Went Before: Fat bonuses granted to execs of 20 state firms

SSS president and CEO Emilio de Quiros Jr.
PHOTO FROM ARCHIVES.PIA.GOV.PH

MANILA, Philippines—Executives of the Social Security System (SSS) were reported to have received a performance bonus of around P1 million each for 2012.

The grant of fat bonuses, reported in the media earlier in October, was condemned by the public as an increase in SSS membership contribution looms and concerns were raised by the Commission on Audit (COA) over the slow processing of payments of death, disability and retirement claims of SSS members.

The bonuses were given in accordance with the performance-incentives system set up by the Governance Commission for Government-Owned and -Controlled Corporations (GCG), the presidential body tasked with overseeing the pay and perks of state corporations.

Executives and employees of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (Philhealth) are also receiving bonuses despite findings by the COA that the state health insurance firm hasn’t been performing well.

According to Philhealth vice president Israel Francis Pargas, Philhealth is still waiting for the approval by the GCG for the grant of bonus.

Executives of 20 government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) were granted bonuses for hitting at least 90 percent of their income target in 2012, said GCG spokesman Paolo Salvosa.

The GCG was established under Republic Act No. 10149, or the “GOCC Governance Act of 2011.” It was signed by President Aquino in June 2011 to put a stop to the multimillion-peso bonuses and extravagant benefits top executives and board members of these corporations give themselves.

It has the power to review and reorganize the corporations, as well as fix the salaries, allowances, per diems and bonuses of board members.

The law came almost a year after the Aquino administration uncovered the big bonuses and other extravagant benefits executives and board members of state firms had been giving themselves.

President Aquino, in his first State of the Nation Address, denounced the “excessive” paychecks and lavish benefits received by the executives of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS), saying that members of the MWSS board of trustees received P2.5 million annually apart from car benefits, technical assistance and loans.

“The entire payroll of the MWSS amounts to P51.4 million annually,” the President said in his July 2010 Sona, adding that MWSS executives received additional allowances and benefits amounting to P81.1 million.

“In short, they receive P211.5 million annually. Twenty-four percent of this is for normal salaries, and 66 percent is added on,” he said.

Aquino added that board members who attended meetings got P14,000 and an annual grocery incentive of P80,000.

“And that’s not all. They get a mid-year bonus, productivity bonus, anniversary bonus, yearend bonus and financial assistance. They not only get a Christmas bonus, but an additional Christmas package as well,” he said.

Perks were not limited to board members. “The average worker receives up to 13th-month pay plus a cash gift. In the MWSS, they receive the equivalent of over 30 months’ pay if you include all their additional bonuses and allowances,” the President said in 2010.—Inquirer Research

Source: Inquirer Archives

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