Senate to expand GOCC probe

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Franklin Drilon wants to know whether government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) remit their multibillion-peso earnings to the government.

The Senate finance committee chairman said he was particularly interested in finding out where the reported P6-billion dividends for 2009 of the Development Bank of the Philippines went.

“We will also include in our scrutiny the dividends of these agencies, especially the Central Bank,” he said. 

“These are not declared by the GOCCs, and they do not reflect in the report of the Commission on Appointments,” he said.

Speaking over dzBB radio, Drilon said executives of the DBP, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, as well as those of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. will be asked about this issue once the Senate committee on finance resumes its hearings in the next few days.?Drilon named only DBP board chairman Patricia Sto. Tomas in the radio interview, but he was keen to know details about the other DBP board members.

The DBP website showed that the other DBP board members are Arnold Duay, Ramon Durano IV, Alexander Magno, Floro Oliveros, Miguel Romero, Franklin Churchill Velarde and Ester Feria.?Drilon was surprised to know that DBP board members are each entitled to reimbursements of P140,000/month.

“They have a P140,000 a month quota. That’s one of the ways to hide compensation.  These are not covered by COA report (audit),”  he said. 

“I want to ask Patricia Sto. Tomas how much they are really compensated as members of the board.”?The “reimbursable” allowances are different from the about P15,000/monthly salary each executive gets for sitting in the board, he added.?Drilon said he also wanted to question the heads of the Social Security System and the Government Service Insurance  System, especially their former chairmen Romulo Neri and Winston Garcia. 

Neri and Garcia were appointed by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in the SSS and GSIS.?Drilon said he also wanted to know directly from administrator Armand Arreza of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority his explanation on the over P20-million compensation and benefits supposedly paid to him last year.?Drilon warned Neri and other government officials of the Senate’s coercive powers when conducting investigations in aid of legislation.?Neri cannot invoke executive privilege in the Senate investigation, he added.

Drilon said the Senate wants to know how much the SSS and the GSIS earned from their stakes in Philex Mining Corp., and other investments like those in the Philippine Long Distance Co. and Security Bank.?He said the matter should be investigated because the money involved should be in a trust fund.

For example, he said if a trustee of SSS sits in PLDT, Security Bank or Philex Mining, any earnings from these companies should go to the SSS fund because the fund is not owned by the employee but by the government. He added the same holds true with GSIS.

The Senate committee on finance has also summoned officials of the SBMA, Bases Conversion Development Authority, Metropolitan Waterworks and Services System, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, and the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Administration.?In another interview, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile  said the GOCC executives should be grilled over their fat commissions and bonuses. 

However, Enrile said President Aquino can issue an executive order to stop GOCC executives from enriching themselves.?“Among people in government, they should not abuse it because this is public service,” he said.?However, Enrile said these GOCC executives should be paid for sitting as members of the board of some private companies.?“If you are a government official you are assigned to a private corporation, for example as director of a certain corporation, and there is a compensation package that came with it, you are not bound to return that to the agency because you’re assigned to perform a responsibility,” he said.?“Your job is not just to work for the agency now if she would tell you go to that corporation and perform an additional job.”

Sometimes the appointing power “equalizes the losses” of some government executives by sending them into these corporations when these personalities can earn more if they would serve private companies, Enrile said.?The Senate is scrutinizing the revenues and compensation packages of GOCCs and government financial institutions to find ways how their income can be tapped by the national government to help reduce the country’s huge budget deficit without imposing new taxes.