Govt corporations owe natl coffers P3.2 billion

Government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCC) gave their executives excessive pay and bonuses despite owing the national government over P3.2 billion in unpaid remittances, Senator Franklin Drilon said Tuesday. Citing a report by the Finance Department, the chair of the Senate finance committee said that GOCCs were supposed to remit P15,099,000,000 in 2008 but turned over to the national coffers only P11,872,300,000. "We are not even talking about the income they realized in 2009," Drilon said after the initial hearing on the proposed 2011 budget. This, he said, despite recent revelations that some trustees or directors of the 157 state firms have been allowing themselves millions in excessive pay and unwarranted bonuses. "We must find a way by which we can remit directly to the treasury instead of passing the [GOCC] board because they are tempted to declare these as bonuses," said Drilon. Republic Act 7656 requires GOCCs to declare and remit at least 50 percent of annual net earnings as cash and stock or property dividends to the national government. "The remittances [are] a good source of revenue for the government which has not been fully utilized as a revenue measure and therefore this is one area where a closer monitoring has to be done," Drilon said. Monitoring 14 GOCCs Last week, President Benigno Aquino III said that Malacañang is drafting an executive order that would strengthen an existing order prohibiting excessive compensation packages of state firms. The administration is now monitoring 14 GOCCs that allow excessive pay packages, including those not earning enough dividends, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said. These are the Social Security System, Government Service Insurance System, Philippine Economic Zone Authority, Local Water Utilities Administration, Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA), Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS), and National Development Corp. Also part of the 14 are the National Electrification Administration, National Food Authority (NFA), National Housing Authority, National Irrigation Administration, National Power Corp. (Napocor), Philippine National Oil Co., Philippine National Railways, Philippine Ports Authority, and Home Guaranty Corp. At least 52 GOCCs registered losses in 2008, according to DOF data, with NFA posting the highest net loss followed by LRTA, Napocor, Bases Conversion Development Authority, and MWSS. "Nung mga nakaraang panahon ay napabayaan sila, tuloy nag-abuso sila, nag-abuso sa pag-gamit ng resources, nag-abuso sa pagsuweldo ng sarili nila at also 'yung iba nawala 'yung landas," he said. (In the past they were let off. That is why they turned to abuse. They abused the use of resources, they committed abuse in compensating themselves. So the others lost their grounding as well.) Purisima said that the plan is to establish performance measures and governance standards as basis for future compensation packages of GOCC officials and employees. —VS, GMANews.TV