Beyond the ghost employee scandal

We already know that ghosts have spooked the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and the good news is that, under the leadership of BSP Governor Eli Remolona Jr., the country’s monetary authority has busted the ghosts that haunted its walls.

The two Monetary Board members involved have tendered their resignation.

Gov. Eli who, in his own words, was flabbergasted with what happened, said that the BSP is doing a post-mortem to make sure that a repeat of the fraudulent act does not happen again.

“We’re doing a post-mortem on this (to determine) what else we can do to prevent this from happening in the future,” Gov. Eli said last week at a forum hosted by the Tuesday Club.

As I said, Gov. Eli has risen to the occasion in leading the BSP at a time of crisis.

While he’s at it, Gov. Eli may also do well to review some of the BSP appointments that happened before his term or during the Duterte administration. There may be real people on the payroll of the Philippine central bank, even if they’re not supposed to be, say BSP insiders.

Some insiders, now emboldened by the results of the investigation on the unprecedented ghost employee scandal, say there’s a lot more to look into.

For instance, they say, there were some people from a government agency with supposedly “doubtful qualifications” who joined the BSP before Gov. Eli’s time. Some of these individuals include young and neophyte lawyers who were given salaries equivalent to the pay of a deputy director rank.

Some officers and staff were also on secondment to another government agency but allegedly on the BSP’s payroll.

According to published rules of the Civil Service Commission, secondment is allowed for as long as “it is limited to employees in managerial, professional or technical positions.” The rules also say that the receiving agency is responsible for paying the salaries of the seconded employee.

Long time BSP insiders, including those who retired, know this and can only sigh in frustration.

After all, the BSP is regarded as a prestigious and professional institution.

As our BSP reporter Keisha Ta-asan said, the BSP is an attractive workplace for many because of its competitive compensation and retirement packages.