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DOF, DBM seek amendments in GOCC bill


The Department of Finance (DOF) and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) have sought several amendments in a bill that seeks to limit the pay and bonuses of executives in government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs). During a Senate hearing on Monday, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said some provisions in the proposed legislation “tend to impinge on existing processes provided under existing laws/charters of the GOCCs." “We wish to raise positions taken by some legal minds that a general law cannot amend specific provisions of existing law," he added. SB 2566 seeks to limit the bonuses of directors and trustees of GOCCs to two months worth of the chief executive officer’s salary. It likewise seeks to limit the money they receive as per diems and prohibits them from receiving any other compensation or benefits. Any other bonuses shall be subject to the approval of the president, the bill states. Under the same bill, a Governance Council for GOCCs (GCG) shall be created to monitor and enforce the policies of state firms. It shall be an attached agency of the Office of the President (OP) with an initial allocation of P10 million from the OP’s contingent fund. Purisima, however, suggested that the GCG be attached to the DOF because their department is mandated to ensure that all overall fiscal resources of government are “properly managed." He also suggested that the GCG be chaired by the DOF secretary because his department is in charge of the country's finances. He added that the shortlist of GOCC board of trustees or directors prepared by the GCG be made in consultation with supervising departments and agencies. Under SB 2566, the GCG will have three ex-officio members including the secretaries of the DOF and DBM, and the chairman of the National Economic Development Authority. Two other members will represent the private sector. Purisima also said that 180 days from the bill’s passage – instead of 90 – may be a “more realistic" timetable to draft an ownership and operations manual governing GOCCs. On the other hand, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad wants the bill to give “emphasis" on the GOCCs that are not limited by the salary standardization law. Senator Franklin Drilon, who authored the bill, said that they will go through the amendments suggested by Purisima and Abad. “We will include these amendments in the committee report," he said after the hearing. “We are confident that with the bill, once it becomes law, the abuses we saw on the part of the GOCCs will no longer be possible," he added. Drilon had earlier spearheaded a series of hearings on the alleged excessive pays and bonuses being received by GOCC and GFI officials. The inquiry revealed that some state firms issued excessive pays and bonuses despite owing the national government at least P3.2 billion in unpaid remittances. - KBK, GMANews.TV

Tags: goccs, gfis
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