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P1-M bonuses of SSS governors are legal, say govt officials
The million-peso incentives received by board members of state-run Social Security System (SSS) are legal and are competitive with private sector rates, according to the Governance Commission for Government-Owned and -Controlled Corporations (GCG).
The GCG said the incentives are aimed at improving the performance of SSS as a pension fund for private sector employees and attracting top executives to work for government.
GCG spokesperson Paolo Salvosa said the performance-based incentives and per diems for SSS executives are spelled out in Republic Act 10149 or the GOCC Governance Act of 2011.
"Based on RA 10149, the [incentives] system is competitive to the rates of that private sector to attract more capable people to work under GOCCs," he said.
Salvosa said the GCG commissioned Towers Watson Philippines, a third party consultancy, to study private sector rates as basis for SSS incentives.
"They are commissioned to do a study periodically on what are the rates in the private sector," he said.
In 2012, SSS governing officials received bonuses averaging a little over P1 million.
The following officials received bonuses based on the performance-based incentive system for GOCC employees:
- Juan Santos, chairman - P1.176 million
- Emilio De Quiros Jr., vice chairman - P1.04 million
- Diana Pardo-Aguilar, board member - P1.336 million
- Daniel Edralin, board member - P1.128 million
- Eliza Antonio, board member - P968,000
- Marianita Mendoza, board member - P1.024 million
- Ibarra Malonzo, board member - P1.416 million
- Bienvenido Laguesma, board member - P1.304 million
Encouragement
In a press briefing Tuesday, SSS president and CEO Emilio S. De Quiros Jr. said the concept of the bonuses is "not to waste money but to encourage people to produce more.
"This scheme established by GCG is the way by which GOCCs give incentives to produce better, to generate more income," he said.
"This is also one way to generate income. You try to provide incentive to the management and staff, to be able to generate more income," De Quiros added.
Rank-and-file employees of the pension fund receive 2.5 percent of their monthly salary while the board of directors receive P40,000 per meeting and P20,000 per committee meeting, both of which are held twice a month.
The bonuses received by the employees and high-ranking officials of SSS are well within the guidelines set by the GCG and the limit of the pension fund's operating expenses, said Judy Frances A. See, Account Management Group senior vice president.
"Whatever our board received and what employees received are in accordance with GCG," she said.
"The incentive scheme is within the limit of our operating expenses. Over the past three years, we have reduced our operating expenses and we have been spending more prudently," she added.
De Quiros said the SSS board members meet with GCG each year to discuss and negotiate the pension fund's parameters and yearly goals. "We discuss what our targets are, and if we do not meet those targets, we will not get any," he said.
A GOCC, like the SSS, submits audited financial statements to the GCG for validation.
"The GCG will make sure their mandate is executed and their programs and targets are aligned with the thrust of the current administration," Salvosa said.
He noted that if the GOCC meets 90 percent of the weighted average of its performance scorecard, the agency will authorize the release of incentives.
The performance scorecard is a governance and management tool of the performance evaluation system, a set of measures, targets and initiatives that facilitate the achievement of breakthrough results and performance.
Employees and officials of SSS are likely to receive bonuses again this year after it registered P21.67 billion in net revenues in the first half, which is 72 percent of its P30-billion target for 2013.
“We are confident to meet our targets with the way the market is moving,” De Quiros said. — BM/VS, GMA News
