U P D A T E S

by Christine Tan

Heard a comment from an officemate who used to work with the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC) that the clamor of their employees to increase the per diem to P620 has been granted with the Bangko Sentral Ng Pilipinas (BSP) as their basis in asking for said increase. The same officemate however wished that the BSP would follow PDIC’s benefits (trust us to be the follower instead of the leader) particularly their medical benefits of P30,000/annum which includes a health card membership and the remaining balance for reimbursement of medical expenses (vitamins included) which are not covered by the health card. Further, the unused portion of the P30,000 will be monetized at the end of the year. On top of this, their maximum loanable amount is P2M from the Provident Fund regardless of the balance of personal and bank contributions subject to an individual monthly net take-home pay of not less than P2,000 plus 10% of the monthly basic salary.

Calling Atty. Montero. I have been telling him regarding this health card which would be very convenient to all BSP employees. I hope he reads this news item.

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I pity the new employees who joined BSP after March 1, 2001 since they will not receive a single cent from the forthcoming performance incentive allowance (PIA). I hope next time BSP gives the PIA, employees joining the BSP after cut-off date will receive the incentive even on a pro-rata basis.

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I was talking to an officemate and I learned that the new recruits whose appointment papers were signed during the year are treated as casuals with salary grade (SG) 19 if the entrant is a CPA with 2 years minimum experience. Those hired with less than 2 years experience are hired under SG 13 or 16. I thought this practice

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If we are to produce honest examiners, we should first start with the pocket. The salary should be high enough so that these people will not be tempted. Of course, integrity is of paramount importance but with the right compensation package, there will be lesser temptation. I’m not saying that money is the only consideration but hey man, let’s be practical.

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I was honored to be part of the group that provided technical assistance to our visiting examiners from Tanzania last May 20 –24. One of the participants shared that their examiners receive salaries way above the industry so that they will not be tempted. She further shared that, like us, they must not allow special treatments from banks under their supervision.

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If BSP were to continue hiring casual bank examiners with lower pay considering the position, I believe this should call for a review of our recruitment policies. It’s better to have few examiners with high pay than hire many employees who will be prone to corruption considering the pay. Maybe they should push through with the rumored early retirement scheme before they appoint new examiners.

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According to Personnel Data Management Division, the personnel breakdown of BSP as of June 30, 2002 is as follows:

		Age Range		Number of Personnel

		35 years and below               627
        	36 – 45	             	       1,329
         	46 – 55	               	       1,969
         	Above 55	                 708
					       -----
         	TOTAL BSP EMPLOYEES            4,633
					       =====

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I heard the salaries of the military personnel have been increased (if I'm not mistaken) to minimize, if not totally eliminate, corruption. Good for them.

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I admired HRMD for tying all our forthcoming PIA with the performance appraisal. Miraculously, everybody was in a rush to submit their performance appraisal on time otherwise they will not be able to receive the PIA. This was revealed by Ms. Venus Beley who was with us in the Seminar-workshop on How to Conduct Effective Presentation Appraisal last March 7. I was lucky to participate in said seminar as one of the DRB personnel handpicked by the BSPI together with Caloy Landagan (who didn’t make it) and Ate Luds Albances.

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All of a sudden, there was much hullabaloo created with the accomplishment of the performance appraisal for the first semester of 2002 which before we used to copy and paste from the previous rating without much consideration. Expect more to come with the implementation of the new BSP Performance Evaluation Program, otherwise known as PEP for the second semester of this year.

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Under this program, the rater should every now and then monitor the performance of the ratee so that the latter will be able to achieve the desired goal and to avoid any misunderstanding regarding the rating given to the ratee.

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