(Photo courtesy of Ma. Crisel Q. Inocando)
TACLOBAN CITY—Employees of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) in Maasin City have called for the abolition of Governance Commission for Government-owned and Controlled Corporations (GCG), a policy making body created during the administration of then President Benigno Aquino.
Ma. Crisel Inocando, union chapter president of GSIS-Maasin City, said that the regulatory agency has “imperils the lives of all GOCC employees.”
“For the past seven years, GOCCs have been complaining about the additional impositions and requirements laid down by the GCG which hamper their day-to-day operations, thereby placing the GOCCs under their mercy. Consequently, the employees especially the rank-and-file had to suffer and bear with their inconsistencies,” Inocando said.
According to her, they have had enough of GCG’s control.
“It left us broke and helpless. GCG’s high control means low trust, high cost and low speed for employees,” she added.
Inocando believed that in the process of protecting the government’s ownership rights and institutionalizing transparency in corporate performance, the GCG became “another administrative layer in the already perplexed structure of checks and balances, which takes up valuable time and resources of the GOCCs.”
“The impact of GCG to the people and this country can be considered as revenue cost of this government for seven years now. The GCG has been using their power to put control over the rank-and-file employees’ rights for good life and bright future, instead of directing its power to the presidential appointees who have been enjoying lavishly in terms of compensation and benefits and has been untouchable since the enactment of RA 10149, as majority of the employees viewed during Aquino’s administration,” Inocando said.
Whereas, ordinary employees like her have not received any salary increase for the last eight years, she said.
“We’ve got a big difference in salary level. After the RA 10149 was promulgated, we don’t have step increment anymore. The increase is now based on commendable performance, where slots are also limited. Our salary is flat now,” Inocando stressed.
Accordingly, GCG is devising scorecards for GOCCs and GFIs where a performance-based incentive is only granted if breakthrough results are achieved by a certain agency, saying this will push employees “to go beyond their day-to-day operations and achieve outcomes that have a significant impact on their customers and stakeholders while maintaining financial viability.”
(RONALD O. REYES)
