DPWH forms truth task force on MWSS anomalies

MANILA, Philippines - A “Truth Task Force” will be created by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to look into numerous cases of graft and gross mismanagement allegedly committed by officials of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System, a party-list lawmaker said yesterday.

Bagong Henerasyon Rep. Bernadette Herrera-Dy said DPWH Secretary Rogelio Singson has assured her a special team would be formed to determine the veracity of reports that the MWSS management and board of trustees “have transformed the water agency into a virtual milking cow.”

Singson gave the assurance after Herrera-Dy filed House Resolution 137 seeking to create an MWSS task force that would look into alleged multi-million peso irregularities in the disbursement of funds of the water agency.

In filing HR 137, Dy urged the creation of a special probe body to look into reports that the MWSS board and management had abused their discretion in setting high salaries for themselves and other vital personnel.

Senators also moved to review the compensations and benefits of officials of government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs).

Senators Franklin Drilon and Ralph Recto have declared that the salaries and benefits of GOCC executives should be competitive enough to vie with the private sector but not exceedingly high to the point of extravagance.

The massive calls to review the compensation received by GOCC executives came amid exposes that the huge revenues of certain state-owned firms only go to the pockets of its executives.

Lawmaker allies of President Aquino have been vocal over the proposal to make necessary adjustments to the existing laws and GOCC charters to make sure that revenues are transferred to the national treasury.

Drilon filed a resolution directing the Senate committees on finance and government corporations and public enterprises to conduct an investigation into the alleged excessive and unwarranted salaries, allowances, bonuses, other emoluments and perks of top officials and board members of GOCCs and government financial institutions.

Sen. Edgardo Angara expressed his support over the proposals and recommended a rightful compensation package formula for the employees.

“And it should not be exceedingly high that no longer serves the purpose and will already be classified as extravagance and wasteful spending,” Angara said.

Dy, for her part, filed the resolution in line with Mr. Aquino’s State of the Nation Address exposing the MWSS officials had made “excessive remunerations, benefits and privileges without appropriate consultations, valid reasons and a sense of public decency.”

Dy said the Commission on Audit (COA) confirmed the presidential accusations after it ordered MWSS officials to refund a total P8,762,948.31 in expenses for allowances, medical health benefits and incentive bonuses and other perks distributed in 2000.

Citing the 2008 annual audit report, Dy said the COA discovered the MWSS board approved over P500 million budget for the year despite the fact that the allocation had neither been reviewed nor approved by former president, now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

COA questioned the expenditures approved by the board, including the P60 million car assistance program; grant of extraordinary and miscellaneous expenses ranging from P300,000 to P1,920,0000, the distribution of hazard pay totaling P1.74 million and the payment of P3.97 million in additional transportation allowances.

Aside from looking into the alleged abuses, the task force should also conduct an inventory and preserve MWSS assets, Dy said.

In her resolution, Dy said the probe body should also look into the MWSS retirement benefits program and investigate anomalies in the implementation of the MWSS housing program and the sewerage and water supply improvement contracts for projects, including the Laiban Dam, Wawa Water Reliability Project and the Pinugay Sewerage Treatment Project.

– With Christina Mendez