Palace to issue order preventing excessive pays of GOCC execs

President Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" Aquino III on Friday said that they are creating an executive order (EO) that would prevent executives of government owned and controlled corporations (GOCC) from receiving excessive pays and unwarranted bonuses. Aquino said he is waiting for a draft of the EO from the Department of Budget and Management which would strengthen an existing order prohibiting the excessive compensation packages of some state firms. Aquino was pertaining to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's EO No. 20, which states that GOCC officials’ pays should not exceed twice the pay of cabinet executives. "(We will) come up with an all encompassing EO that will rationalize or maybe put the cap, the limit to what should be the pay packages for these government (firms)," he told reporters in an interview on Friday. The President hopes to come out with the EO by next week. The President issued the statement after the Senate adopted a resolution asking Aquino to suspend the bonuses, except the per diems of the board members of GOCCs and government financial institutions (GFI), while there is no legislation against it yet. The Senate resolution also asked Aquino to compel board members to turn over the directors' fees, bonuses, stock options, allowances, and other benefits that they have received while they were on the governing boards of the private companies where the GFI or GOCC has investments. Aquino said that the DBM will conduct an inventory of all GOCCs, including their variants of pay and how they afforded excessive bonuses. He admitted that there is bound to be "resistance" from those who have been receiving high compensation packages. He stated, however, that he will insist that their positions and benefits were all due to the government and the people. - GMANews.TV