Drilon urges Aquino to increase GOCC pay scale

Senate President and re-electionist senatorial candidate Franklin M. Drilon today appealed to President Aquino to authorize an increase in the compensation of personnel in the Government Owned and Controlled Corporations (GOCCs).

Drilon, author of the landmark Republic Act 10149 or the GOCC Governance Act of 2011, issued the statement a day after President Aquino signed an executive order that increases compensation for about 1.3 million government employees.

The four-time Senate President said that President Aquino should also grant an increase in the salaries and benefits of employees in the GOCCs which are excluded from the coverage of the recently signed Executive Order No. 201, s. 2016. The pay of these GOCC personnel is governed by the Compensation and Position Classification System (CPCS).

"It is about time that the compensation for personnel under GOCCs be adjusted if the government really wants to attract and retain highly competitive individuals in government service," Drilon said.

Drilon said that the GOCC Governance Act empowers the Governance Commission on GOCCs to recommend to the President a Compensation and Position Classification System "which shall attract and retain talent, at the same time allowing the GOCCs to be financially sound and sustainable."

"We have a pool of competitive, committed and intelligent human workforce in the GOCCs in various sectors such as in finance and trade," Drilon said.

"The government should do everything it could in order to retain them. Otherwise we will lose our hardworking employees to the private sector," added Drilon, also a former executive, justice and labor secretary.

Drilon said that the existing CPCS for GOCC employees is no longer reflective of the needs of the personnel in GOCCs and government financial institutions (GFIs), saying that their salaries should be at par with their counterparts in the private sector.

"We have to update the compensation system to achieve competitive rates particularly in government financial institutions. We must ensure an appropriate remuneration system that is beneficial to both the employees and the agencies," Drilon concluded.