DBM exec: Congress partly to blame for excessive GOCC perks

Congress may now be grilling officials of government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) about their excessive salaries and perks, but its lawmakers were partly to blame for it, according to a Department of Budget and Management (DBM) official. During the hearing of the Lower House committee on good government Tuesday, DBM director Mary Grace Chua said it was Congress that gave at least 27 GOCCs their own charters, which extended to some degree their fiscal independence. This, in turn enabled at least some GOCCs to exempt their officials from coverage of the Salary Standardization Law (SSL). Asked by Valenzuela City Rep. Magtanggol Gunigundo on the basis of GOCC exemptions from the SSL, Chua replied: “Through Congress. All of these exemptions from the SSL were granted to them by Congress." The DBM director said there is a single compensation package for the government “and the exemption issues of some GOCCs are really problematic." “Their charters are really the stumbling block here (in unifying the salary package in government)," said Chua. Among these GOCCs exempted by their charters from the SSL are following:

• Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas;
• Bases Conversion Development Authority;
• the Manila Water and Sewerage System;
• National Power Corporation;
• Philippine Postal Authority;
• Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.;
• Social Security System;
• Government Service Insurance System;
• Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp.;
• Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority;
• Duty Free Philippines; and
• National Transmission Corp.

'Bursting at the seams' Also during the hearing, Commission on Audit (CoA) Assistant Commissioner Jaime Naranjo said their office has yet to recover the disallowed P164 million out of the P215 million granted by the Manila Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) Board to themselves and executives in 2009. He added the CoA rate of recovery was “minimal because it takes a long process, (and a case sometimes) reaches up to the Supreme Court." In the same hearing, Zambales Rep. Ma. Milagros Magsaysay and Alagad party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta questioned the independence of MWSS, as its funding was from its two water utility concessionaires — Manila Water and Maynilad — which it was supposed to regulate. “How can MWSS perform an independent function in regulating the water industry if your compensation package is coming from the very source? Your bonuses are coming from the corporations you're supposed to regulate. Therefore there's conflict of interest," Magsaysay said. Macra Cruz, MWSS Officer in Charge (OIC) – Administrator, said the two concession firms have nothing to do with the determination of the MWSS bonuses and allowances. “Concessionaires have nothing to do with MWSS operations in terms of allowances and perks," she said, insisting that the MWSS Board is independent. Cruz’s answer, however, apparently did not satisfy Marcoleta, who followed up with this rhetorical question: “How can you not say that your leadership is independent from the concessionaires kahit na namumutiktik and bulsa niyo ng pera nila (when your pockets are bursting at the seams with their money)?"—JV, GMANews.TV