Palace OKs huge bonuses, perks for MWSS execs for 2012

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang confirmed yesterday that members of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) Board of Trustees will receive bonuses ranging from P300,000 to P500,000 each for 2012 based on the rules and regulations governing allowances and other perks in government-owned and controlled corporations.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the Governance Commission for Government-Owned and Controlled Corporations (GCG) had informed the MWSS that four of their appointive board members will be receiving the Performance-Based Incentive (PBI) computed based on the income that the agency had generated.

“For 2012, MWSS has recorded a net profit of P2 billion,” he said. “As of this writing, the four appointive directors have yet to receive their PBIs.” 

Lacierda said the bonuses were consistent with the guidelines that GCG had set in Memorandum Circular 2012.

The incentives must be based on how much the GOCC had met its target achievements and the attendance of the director, he added.

Lacierda said it was a marked departure from 2009 when nine MWSS board members received bonuses averaging about P2.5 million, despite a P34-million net loss. 

“The transformation that has taken place in MWSS is a testament to the gains that can be achieved along the straight and righteous path,” he said.

Lacierda said Aquino’s criticism of the fat bonuses was “relative,” as the MWSS used to bleed financially.

“If you look at the first SONA (State of the Nation) of the President, and you look at the financial statement of the MWSS, (it) had declared hundreds of millions of net losses but the following year, it was already generating income. By last year... MWSS already declared billions of pesos in net income,” he said.

Lacierda said MWSS executives used to give themselves huge allowances and perks even if the agency was losing money. 

“You’re the stewards of this company, you’re expected to make this company, if not income-generating, at least afloat,” he said.

A law had been enacted to govern bonuses relative to one’s performance as a member of the board of a GOCC,  Lacierda said.

Ramon Alikpala received P388,800; Gerardo Esquivel, who is also MWSS administrator, received P345,600; Emmanuel Caparas received P504,900; and Benjamin Yambao got P504,900, or a total of P1,744,200.                  

They received the bonuses after the MWSS Board of Trustees issued Resolution No. 2013-066-CO dated June 6, 2013 declaring its members are entitled to the amount representing the PBI based on Memorandum Circular No. 2012-14.