THE Social Action Center (SAC) of the Diocese of Bacolod hit the Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco) Board of Directors for granting general manager Sulpicio Lagarde Jr. a monthly salary of P250, 000.
Fr. Chris Gonzales, president of SAC, said Wednesday, September 26, there is no basis to increase the salary of Lagarde from P120, 000 to P250, 000 which he called irregular.
He said in 2011, Lagarde was found guilty for charges of falsification of public documents so his morality is already questionable.
“The church is answering this issue because the question here is about morality,” he added.
The Ceneco Board had earlier passed a resolution granting Lagarde a month salary rate of P250,000 in exchange for his commitment to avail an optional retirement under National Electrification Administration (NEA) Memorandum No. 2018-003 dated January 17.
SAC legal counsel Vicente Petierre III also supported the statement of Gonzales that there is no basis to increase the salary of Lagarde from 120,000 to 250,000 days before he will retire.
“The worst part of it is that Ceneco has an existing policy that for every one year of service or if you reach 10 years in service, the benefits will be doubled. So if Lagarde will receive P250, 000 a month, it will become half a million per year or with the total of P5 million for 10 years and of course, it will be an additional burden to the consumers,” he said.
Petierre recalled that in the previous years, Board Director Roy Cordova also filed administrative charges against Lagarde and under the NEA law, the general manager cannot retire if he or she has a pending case.
Petierre said that Lagarde and Cordova settled it and signed a compromise agreement on the withdrawal of the case and was endorsed to the Ceneco Board.
“It’s a personal case of Cordova against Lagarde, and the Board of Directors has nothing to do with it so why they entertained it,” he said.
He added the Ceneco Board has no authority to pass a resolution fixing the salary increase of Lagarde.
Petierre noted that based on NEA Memorandum 2015-019 dated June 24, 2015, it stated that the Board of Directors may grant a salary increase to the general manager based on good performance every two years. The increase shall be guided by a point system in the Key Performance Standards (KPS) evaluation, the result should be at least 90 percent to qualify for the salary upgrading.
Petierre said there’s a step increment to avail the salary increase based on NEA guidelines and the minimum salary of the general manager is P120, 000.
“If the general manager is working for seven to 11 years with 99 to 100 percent performance or with step increment is no.3, he will receive P125, 555 and not P250, 000. The Board is not authorized to give a fix salary increase to Lagarde. They are there to protect the consumers, and not to double the retirement benefits of Lagarde,” he said.
Petierre said that Lagarde only signified that he will retire, but did not file a written retirement.
He said within a month, they file their protest to NEA and not to the Ceneco Board.
Lagarde had said he has not yet received the monthly salary of P250, 000 because it is not yet implemented.
He said the board through a resolution has granted him that salary rate but it is not yet implemented because it still needs the approval of NEA.
He added he just wanted that his salary will also be the same as in South Cotabato and Batangas electric cooperatives in the amount of P200, 000 per month.