Employees of PCGG to get maximum bonuses
MANILA, Philippines—Employees of the Presidential Commission on Good Government are set to receive bonuses of up to P35,000 each this month after the PCGG emerged as the top performer last year among agencies under the Department of Justice.
Ferdinand Marcos AP FILE PHOTO
In a statement, PCGG Chair Andres Bautista said the commission’s best performing employees would receive the bonuses under the performance-based incentive system (PBIS) after the agency was once again rated “best performing.”
Bautista said the rating—which the PCGG has received two years in a row—was for the commission’s exceeding its target last year by a significant margin of 40 percent, which brought the PCGG’s remittance to the national treasury to a total of P166.2 billion in 27 years.
“The PCGG exceeded its target of P450 million in 2013 by remitting a total of P631 million. This was achieved through obtaining premium bids for the sale of sequestered properties as well as generating better reforms and rental income from businesses and properties being managed by the commission,” he said.
The PBIS was instituted by the Department of Budget and Management and has two components: The productivity enhancement incentive (PEI) and the performance-based bonus (PBB).
The PBB is given to employees based on their contributions to the accomplishment of their agency’s overall targets, while the PEI is given to employees across the board regardless of their actual performance.
Article continues after this advertisementThe PBIS gives bonuses of P5,000 each to employees in good-performing agencies and P35,000 to those in the best-performing agency.
Article continues after this advertisementBautista attributed the accomplishment partly to the recovery of $29 million (approximately P1.3 billion) from the last two Marcos Swiss accounts in West Landesbank (WestLB) in Singapore. The accounts were part of the ill-gotten wealth deposited by the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos in various Swiss banks.
In 1997, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court ordered the deposits returned to the Philippine government and 15 years later the Singapore High Court ruled the accounts belonged to the Philippine National Bank as the government’s trustee. The ruling became final on Dec. 30, 2013, after it was upheld by the Singapore Court of Appeals.
Likewise, Bautista cited the forfeiture of P120 million worth of houses and lots in North Greenhills and Valle Verde subdivisions as well as shares in Manila Polo Club and Makati Sports Club of former National Bureau of Investigation Director Jolly Bugarin after the Supreme Court issued a writ of execution in June last year. The houses and lots are up for public bidding.
The properties, illegally acquired by the late Bugarin from 1968 to 1980, were initially worth P6.3 million when the PCGG sought their forfeiture in 1986.
In 2002, the Supreme Court ordered the Sandiganbayan to identify the properties to be confiscated as it was not convinced of the former NBI director’s capacity to acquire P2.1-million worth of houses and lots since he received only over P760,000 in pay during his entire tenure with the bureau.
The PCGG also sold for P247.11 million the 4,038-square meter Mapalad property, a commercial and residential lot along Roxas Boulevard in Parañaque City that was surrendered to the government in 1986 by the late Marcos associate Jose Y. Campos.
After several failed biddings, the commission was able to sell the property in March last year to the winning bidder Ciriaco Realty for a price 14 percent higher than the P216 million minimum. The proceeds were remitted to the national treasury in June last year.
Bautista also considered the conviction early this year of former first lady Imelda Marcos’ New York-based personal secretary, Vilma Bautista, as a victory for the PCGG which testified at the trial.
The former Marcos employee was sentenced by the New York State Supreme Court to up to six years in prison after finding her guilty of scheming to sell a $32-million Claude Monet painting and tax fraud.
The 1899 art work, “Le Bassin aux Nymphease,” or “Japanese Footbridge Over the Water-Lily Pond at Giverny,” from the French painter’s “Water Lilies” series, was among the ill-gotten assets the government was seeking to reclaim from the Marcoses. The Monet disappeared when the Marcos family fled into exile at the height of the 1986 Edsa revolution.
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