Senator Panfilo Lacson on Tuesday said that the P100,000 cash gift is still big to say as “nominal.”
He said this amount is not insignificant for government officials and employees to receive without violating the country’s anti-graft laws.
He also said his office is now studying what could be considered as a nominal amount, which can be relative to base pay.
“We can perhaps say 5 percent is the base pay. Not the take-home pay because if the commission on pork barrel was included, that’s too big,” Lacson said.
He said that the nominal amount should be based only on the base pay of a government employee. He said the number should be based there.
“So kung 5 percent ng pinakamataas na sweldo ng base pay na P200,000 na lang, mga P10,000 ‘yan. ‘Yan ang pwedeng definition ng nominal. Kung nasa P6,000 o P7,000 [ang suweldo], ang 5 percent noon mas mababa, sa P350. Puwede i-define na ganoon,” he said.
Lacson also said that the gift should not be connected to the work done by a government employee or official.
But if a gift would be given due to an occasion like Christmas or birthday of a govenrment employee, he said there’s nothing wrong about it especially if the giver is a friend.
Furthermore, he said the gift would be given without asking anything in return or a government employee having done something for the beneficiary.
Earlier. Senator Ronald dela Rosa admitted that he too accepted gifts from grateful benefactors as he defended President Rodrigo Duterte from criticisms over his remark that gifts are not bribe so police officers may take it.
He said the President is just a practical person like him.
The senator served as Davao City PNP chief when Duterte was still a mayor of the city.
Dela Rosa was later designated as PNP chief when Duterte assumed the presidency in June 2016. He retired in 2018 and was then appointed as chief of the Bureau of Corrections but quit to run for senator in the May elections.
Dela Rosa recalled that at the time, he and his men were able to successfully rescue a kidnap victim so the family of the victim went to their station and brought food, including lechon. He said he accepted it.
Another instance, he said, was when they were able to solve a robbery incident and arrest the suspects. The victim went to their office and offered to replace their faulty office printer.
The President told police officers they may receive gifts from generous and thankful benefactors. He said he did not consider gift-giving a form of bribery.