MWSS OIC got P6 million per year since 2008 - lawmaker

MANILA, Philippines - Rep. Bernadette Herrera-Dy of the party-list group Bagong Henerasyon disclosed yesterday that not only the members of the board of trustees of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) received millions in allowances and bonuses; even the state firm’s officer-in-charge (OIC) enjoyed such benefits.

Dy said that MWSS OIC Macra Cruz received a total of P5,956,899 in allowances, bonuses, honoraria, and other perks in less than three years starting from September 2008.

She said the information about Cruz’s compensation package is included in vouchers and other financial ledgers that concerned MWSS employees have sent to her office.

“The employees accuse their trustees and officers of transforming their agency into a milking cow,” she said.

Dy said the documents were sent to her after she filed Resolution 137, which urges Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson to create a “truth task force” to look into alleged irregularities at the MWSS, including excessive pay for trustees and officers like Cruz.

She plans to turn over the vouchers and financial ledgers to Singson next week. Singson’s agency supervises MWSS.

Dy added that she expects more documents to be sent to her by her MWSS informants.

Based on the vouchers and ledgers, Dy said that Cruz received several types of allowances and bonuses, including a P74,684.95 family week allowance, a P30,000 efficiency incentive benefit, a P75,474.95 performance bonus, P15,525 as grocery allowance; P20,000 as PX mart allowance, P98,591.10 as corporate Christmas bonus, P71,860.95 as traditional Christmas bonus, P98,691 as yearend financial assistance, P98,591 as calamity economic assistance, P25,000 as medical reimbursement, P98,791 as scholarship allowance, and P237,987 as privatization anniversary bonus.

Additionally, she also got a car loan amounting to P800,000.

In his first State of the Nation Address on July 26, President Aquino stirred public outrage over the fat salaries and allowances of board members and officers of government corporations by denouncing the excessive pay and bonuses of members of the MWSS board of trustees.

He said each trustee received more than P2.5 million a year.

It turned out that MWSS trustees were getting far less than officers of Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, Clark Development Corp. and other state corporations.

According to the Commission on Audit, SBMA administrator Armand Arreza gets more than P26 million a year.

Arreza, however, clarified that the COA lumped other funds under his office like the P5-million intelligence budget with his salaries and allowances.

In the Senate finance committee hearings, it was revealed that Thelmo Cunanan, former chairman of the Social Security System, and Romulo Neri, erstwhile president and chief operating officer, and two other board members made more than P120 million from the sale of shares in a mining firm in which they represented the SSS.

Sen. Franklin Drilon, finance committee chairman, has asked Cunanan and his colleagues to turn over the money to the SSS, the pension fund of private sector workers.