Heavily-losing MWSS gives out 37 months in salaries By Angie M. Rosales 09/01/2010

Heavily-losing MWSS gives out 37 months in salaries By Angie M. Rosales 09/01/2010 While the state water service regulator was bleeding from a P3 billion loss in 2008, employees of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) were reaping windfalls from bonuses of up to 25 months, the current MWSS head told a Senate hearing yesterday on the excessive compensations given by state firms. MWSS officer-in-charge Macra Cruz said before a joint hearing by the Senate committees on finance and government corporations that the water agency provides 25-month bonuses for its employees including a “family day” allowance which she said was an offshoot of a requirement for the agency to distribute five percent of its net income for “gender advocate and development.” All such incentives were given on the year that MWSS suffered a gargantuan P3.5 billion loss. Senators, as a result, approved a resolution asking President Aquino to suspend the irregular MWSS perks and those that executives get from government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) which are mostly losing. The same appears to be the case of another water agency, the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA), receiving subsidies from the national government to more than P2 billion while it is yet to remit dividends of some P263 million. Combined unremitted dividends of the two water utility firms would amount to more than P500 million pesos, the MWSS owing the government a total of P258 million. House legislators, meanwhile, filed a resolution yesterday seeking to abolish at least 36 “non-performing and unnecessary” GOCCs and financial institutions (GFIs).... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100901hed2.html