GSIS manager’s sister resigns as special assistant effective May 31

The sister of Government Service and Insurance System president and general manager Winston Garcia tendered her resignation yesterday as the GSIS chief’s special assistant effective May 31.

"My desire is to be of service, not to become a source of controversy," Farla Carolyn Garcia-Emperano said in a statement released to the media.

She said she had made the decision to "pursue other career opportunities, spend more time with the family and more importantly, put an end to the many unfounded and malicious accusations being hurled against our family."

A copy of the resignation letter addressed to his brother faxed to The STAR was marked "approved and accepted with deep regrets."

However, President Arroyo said yesterday that, while Garcia had removed his sister, he should change some of his own practices in the corporation as well.

She did not elaborate as to which practices at GSIS should be corrected.

Mrs. Arroyo appeared to be supportive of Garcia’s decision, though, citing his gains as head of the GSIS.

"Let me just say GSIS has the biggest profit among all government corporations. If he’s hiding (something), I mean he has to be (investigated)... I do have to recognize that he has made GSIS profitable. But he has to be corrected on some of the practices," the President said.

Garcia has been under fire for alleged misuse of GSIS funds. The agency reportedly has been failing to pay benefits due to its members and provide them with needed loans.

Recently, Garcia announced he would be halving his pay in compliance with an order issued earlier by the President to officials of government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) to implement austerity measures.

Garcia was also investigated by the House of Representatives for alleged cash advances that he failed to liquidate, for appointing his sister and over 25 paintings acquired by the GSIS for P262.5 million and now allegedly missing.

His sister, whose appointment as his special assistant was highly criticized, allegedly received a P99,000 monthly salary and P31,000 in allowances.

GSIS officials, however, said that it was accepted practice for the president and general manager of GOCCs to hire competent close relatives in confidential positions. Emperano’s predecessors, they said, received the same salary.

The authority of the President to cut the salaries, perks and privileges of executives under GOCCs and government financial institutions (GFIs) is being questioned by some sectors as allegedly being unlawful.

But the President stood firm on her order and said she would maintain competitive salaries in the GOCCs and GIFs so as not to lose competent government executives to the private sector.

"I have to look at the market price, the opportunity cost of every executive. Will I lose him to the private sector and will he be a great cost? Or is the job something that any competent or intelligent person will do?" Mrs. Arroyo said.

For instance, the President said Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Chairman Francisco Licuanan III and Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) President Reynaldo David accepted a large pay cut in the spirit of national sacrifice.

"(Licuanan) is about the best you can get in the type of job I have given him. Although to my knowledge… he is already quite wealthy. To my knowledge, he is not using it," Mrs. Arroyo said.

David, on the other hand, has accepted a pay cut because "he doesn’t expect to stay very long in government anyway and he’s made already... So it’s more of a contribution than a source of income," the President said.

"But then there were some who grew up in the corporate sector and their professional income is their main source of income. They’re very prone to be pirated by a rival institution in the private sector. So we have to make a distinction. That’s why the GOCCs have to have (their) own rules," she said.

The President has ordered the filing of appropriate charges against officials of the GOCCs and GFIs who have continued to enjoy excessive salaries, perks and privileges.