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GCG says fat bonuses of GOCCs originated under Arroyo admin
(Updated 4:09 p.m.) The Governance Commission for Government-Owned and -Controlled Corporations (GGC) on Friday denied approving any increase in the compensation packages of GOCCs but admitted it cannot do anything against the rates which were already in place under the Arroyo administration.
During a press conference in Malacañang, GCG chairman Cesar Villanueva said they did not grant, authorize, or recommend to the President any increase in the rates of the compensation, bonuses, allowances and other benefits within the GOCC sector.
Problems encountered
Various applications for such increased were even denied, including those that resulted from collective bargaining agreement, in line with the moratorium imposed by President Benigno Aquino III in 2010, he said.
Various applications for such increased were even denied, including those that resulted from collective bargaining agreement, in line with the moratorium imposed by President Benigno Aquino III in 2010, he said.
"Those press statements were in the very least inaccurate," he said, noting GCG evaluation showed that no increases or new benefits were authorized since September 2010.
"Therefore, the bulk of the COA-reported unauthorized allowances, bonuses, and benefits amounting to P2.313 billion granted to 30 GOCCs relate to practices or existing rates that were carried over from the previous administration, and were therefore inherited by the GOCC governing boards appointed by the current administration," he said.
Since the GCG was created in 2010, Villanueva said they have encountered problems on how to address the rates imposed by the previous administration.
He cited legal issues such as the non-diminution of benefits granted – which means the amount may not be reduced – and the alleged fiscal autonomy of GOCC governing boards.
"We have a principle in both public and private sector that says “non-diminution of benefits.” Once it has been granted and there’s every legal indication that it has been granted legally [you cannot deduct from it]," he said.
"They’d find themselves criminally liable when you start to take deduct from payroll without their consent or without a legal basis," he added.
What they have been doing, he said, is crafting a new compensation framework which will adjust the pay and benefits being received by persons occupying certain positions. He said this will be based on local and international rates.
"You will have a compensation framework within the GOCC that replaces all of this disparate and various compensation framework to ensure that from that time on there is no overpayment," he said.
However, the new rates can only happen once the person currently holding the post retires or resigns and a new official or employee takes over the post.
"The moment their position becomes vacant, mag-retire sila, mag-resign sila; ang susunod magre-replace sa kanila, proper na [ang rates]," he said.
"Mayroon lang interim period, na lahat na [maaapektuhan] because of the new rates, will have to enjoy their non-diminution of benefits... Pero the abuse will cease because in the future, the ones who will take their position will now be correctly compensated," he added.
Villanueva said the only way to take back bonuses or benefits that were deemed excessive would be through a notice of disallowance by the Commission on Audit.
The GCG issued the statement after the Commission on Audit ordered some GOCCs to return P2.3 billion in supposedly unauthorized bonuses and allowances paid to their officials in 2012.
But Villanueva said the COA report was issued in September 2013, when "such issues were still in the process of being individually sorted out by the GOCCs with COA." He added that there wasn't even a single final notice of disallowance in the COA report.
Despite this, GCG said it ordered the GOCCs to answer COA's observations. – VS, GMA News
