Subic, Clark chiefs explain fat paychecks; solons shocked
EXPRESSING SHOCK at the fat paychecks, perks and bonuses enjoyed by top executives of government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs), House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II Saturday said he would call for an investigation to exact “transparency and accountability†from these officials.
“I think I’m in the wrong profession,†quipped Gonzales, the representative of the lone district of Mandaluyong City. He was commenting on a Commission on Audit (COA) report listing the officials receiving the highest salaries and allowances from the government, led by executives of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) and Clark Development Corp. (CDC).
But Armand Arreza and Benigno Ricafort, who supervise the two major economic zones in Central Luzon, took exception to the COA list.
SBMA Administrator Arreza said the COA did not put the expenses of his office in the proper context.
He said the P26.865 million in salary, allowances and “extraordinary and miscellaneous fees†attributed to him by the COA in 2009 was misleading because it did not give a true picture of his “total real compensation.â€
At the Clark Freeport in Pampanga, CDC president and chief executive officer Ricafort bristled at Saturday’s Inquirer report on the issue, saying it was “most unfair†and “not accurate.â€
In a text message he sent at 8:47 a.m. Saturday, Ricafort bewailed “the unfair focus on SBMA and CDC.â€
“Bad news is good news for PDI. Sana (I wish) you focus on the contributions/results of efforts to contribute results,†he said.
Ricafort said he would issue an official statement Saturday afternoon, after concluding an executive checkup at a hospital. He had yet to do so as of 5 p.m.
The COA had said Ricafort received P14.506 million in 2009, making him No. 2 in the list of highest paid GOCC executives.
‘Ridiculous’
On the phone with the Inquirer, Gonzales said the fat paychecks and allowances had no place in a country with rising hunger and poverty levels and a crippling budget deficit left by the previous administration.
“It is ridiculous, in the light of the budgetary deficit and economic crisis, for GOCC officials to get that kind ofmoney. It’s very inconsistent with the economic situation that we are in right now,†he said.
Gonzales said Arreza and the other listed top officers and board members of GOCCs, as well as secretaries, undersecretaries and assistant secretaries of national government agencies, did not have to wait for the planned House inquiry.
He said they should follow President Aquino’s lead and voluntarily slash their earnings.
“The President has been leading by example. He likes to be an austere President. All the officers of the government and GOCCs should follow suit,†Gonzales said.
He surmised that the amounts listed by the COA could even be higher if the officials’ actual travel allowances were included.
Gonzales said that apart from the budget hearings to commence next month, he would ask the plenary to authorize the House committees on good government and on government enterprises to look into the matter.
“There should be a separate investigation immediately, independent of the budget hearings,†he said.
Pay audit
Gonzales said Malacañang should order an “honest to goodness†audit of the pay scales of all GOCCs and government financial institutions (GFIs), as well as allowances received, “inclusive of all representation and travel allowances, to see how big a drain this has become on the [state] coffers.â€
He said some officers of GOCCs had not been transparent and accountable, and were not even paying proper taxes.
“They have a lot of explaining to do … for not so huge government enterprises to be able to pay that kind of salary,†Gonzales said, citing the case of Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp., whose officials were said to receive close to P5 million a year in salaries and bonuses.
Aurora Rep. Sonny Angara said the government was “doing the right thing†in ordering a salary review.
He added: “As a general rule, it makes more sense to pay full-time executives like presidents of GFIs and other agencies a decent salary competitive with what they would get in the private sector. You need to attract good people to these positions, and you also need them to receive proper incentives so they do not steal.
“Members of the various boards, however, who only attend board meetings once or twice a month, should not be as well compensated because they are able to work elsewhere and their work loads are nowhere near as demanding as those of the full-time executives.
“In short, the pay should be commensurate to the work performed and the opportunities available.â€
Intel fund, etc.
Arreza said that of the P15-million intelligence fund attributed to him by the COA, P10 million went to Task Force Subic for its antismuggling operations.
He said the remaining P5 million, which was divided between him and SBMA Chair Feliciano Salonga, went to the agency’s law enforcement department and its investigative division.
“The intelligence fund is approved [annually] by the President, and in 2009, [then President Gloria] Arroyo gave that to the SBMA,†Arreza said. “This year, we have no intelligence funds because [Arroyo] did not approve any. The same goes with President Aquino.â€
Arreza said the rest of the amount cited by the COA went to the “extraordinary and miscellaneous expenses of the entire agency, which is submitted to the board for approval, and [dispensed] through my office.â€
He said that in 2009, those expenses went to advertising, promotions and events sponsored by the SBMA, including the Philippine Advertising Congress that was held at the Subic Bay Freeport.
“We also had the [Sangguniang Kabataan] congress, as well as other tourism events. Other than that, we host delegations of agencies from other countries, or extend financial assistance to [communities or nongovernment organizations]. All of this [money] is under my office, but it doesn’t go to me,†Arreza said.
He said the SBMA board strived to keep these “unbudgeted expenses†to about 1 percent of the agency’s total annual budget of more than P2 billion.
Set in 2000
Arreza said the current salary of the SBMA administrator and chair was set in 2000 by the then chair, Felicito Payumo.
He said Payumo wanted to match the SBMA chair’s salary with that of the head of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), which he used as a benchmark. The BCDA is the mother company of firms operating in former base lands and special economic zones.
According to Arreza, his monthly gross salary is P131,880.77 and his take-home pay is P95,449.35.
“My compensation has remained as it was since I was appointed in 2005. It was the same salary enjoyed by my predecessors that was set in 2000,†he said.
Payumo confirmed that the salary level of the SBMA’s top post was “matched to those of the BCDA under my term.â€
However, he said, he took home only about P80,000 “because I donated some of it to the indigenous community in Subic.
“Certainly, during my term, I did not earn as much as [the top officials] of the SBMA now,†Payumo said.
He said the intelligence fund during his term amounted to “only about P3 or P4 million,†which went directly to the SBMA law enforcement department.
Gordon
The Inquirer tried to get the comment of Payumo’s predecessor, former Sen. Richard Gordon, on the issue, but he did not respond to calls and text messages. Gordon chaired the SBMA at its inception.
Arreza, however, said Gordon received “the lowest salary among all of us because, during his time, his pay grade was the same as an undersecretary, which was Salary Grade 30.â€
By Michael Lim Ubac, Robert Gonzaga, Jun Malig
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:30:00 08/08/2010
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