PASG, PAGC abolished

MANILA, Philippines – True to his word, President Aquino abolished redundant and underperforming agencies including the Presidential Anti Graft Commission (PAGC) and the Presidential Anti Smuggling Group (PASG), but nevertheless decided to extend the lifespan of problematic government-owned and controlled corporations.

Quoting Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, Secretary Ricky Carandang of the Presidential Communications Office said the PASG and the PAGC would have “zero” budgets for next year.

“For 2011, there’s no budget allocated for them, zero na sila. Per DBM, (they have) zero budget,” he said.

“In paper, yes, they (PASG and PAGC) are still there, but they have no more budget allocations,” he told The STAR.

Curbing smuggling is the job of the Bureau of Customs while the Office of the Ombudsman handles graft cases involving government officials and personnel.

“It’s supposed to be an anti-smuggling group but smuggling still exists. I suppose that answers the question,” the President earlier said of the PASG.

The PAGC is composed of a chairman and four commissioners.

Unlike the Office of the Ombudsman, PAGC’s authority to investigate wrongdoings covers only presidential appointees, but not including Cabinet secretaries.

Carandang said GOCCs – even those in the red – have been included in the proposed P1.645-trillion national budget for 2011 that has been submitted to the Senate and the House of Representatives.

“This means that their (GOCCs, GFIs) lifespan has been extended for at least another year. But their allocations have been cut to subsistence levels, because it’s not that easy to abolish an agency,” he said.

Also included in the General Appropriations Act for 2011 are allocations for the National Food Authority, the debt-saddled Quedan and Rural Credit Guarantee Corp. (Quedancor), the Light Rail Transit Authority and the Metro Rail Transit Corp., among others.

A briefing paper from the DBM shows that the government is no longer keen on supporting the programs of GOCCs and government financing institutions that are usually in the red.

“The support for corporations will decline significantly by about half, with the rethinking of national government support to the programs of problematic GOCCs like the NFA, LRTA, MRTC and other GOCCs,” the paper read.

The DBM recommended that budget allocations for such GOCCs for fiscal year 2011 be cut by as much as P35.8 billion to P23.3 billion, from P59.1 billion this year.

For instance, the P8-billion rice subsidy of the NFA for rice procurement had already been “removed” and diverted to the “rice subsidies for the poor” program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

“We can reduce the tax subsidies for rice importation given the plan to deregulate rice importation to the private sector and let NFA take care only of buffer stocking and regulation,” the document read.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the Aquino administration is determined to cut excess fat, particularly the outlandish bonuses, perks and privileges of GOCC executives – and put a uniform cap on their salaries and other emoluments.

“This administration is serious in cutting fat – that’s part of our reform agenda. We’d like to promote good governance and part of it is really to determine which GOCCs are performing and which GOCCs are underperforming,” he said.

“Programs that are not working should be removed. That’s part of our own reform program, let’s cut fat,” he told reporters in a briefing.

Abolition

Two Mindanao congressmen are pushing for the abolition of 36 state-owned corporations to save the government more than P200 million in annual subsidies.

“Consistent with the Aquino administration’s austerity measures, it is high time that the government removes the excess fat and spends only for things that are truly vital to the country,” Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez and his brother Maximo, representative of the party-list group Abante Mindanao, said in House Bill 2867.

They said the government maintains around 120 corporations and financial institutions, “many of which are unnecessary, underperforming and losing.”

“However, despite this, the taxpayers are still paying for their expenses and their officers’ and employees’ salaries,” they said.

The Rodriguez brothers noted that between January and May this year alone, the government spent P7.28 billion in subsidies to state firms.

Their bill seeks to abolish the following corporations: Banaue Hotel and Youth Hostel, Batangas Land Co., BCDA Management and Holdings, Inc., Cottage Industry Technology Center, DBP Data Center, Inc., DBP Management Corp., DBP Maritime Leasing Corp., Freeport Service Corp., GY Real Estate, Inc.; Human Settlements Development Corp., Industrial Guarantee and Loan Fund, Kamayan Realty Corp., LBP Insurance Brokerage, Inc., LBP Leasing Corp., Luzon Integrated Services, Inc., Manila Gas Corp., Marawi Hotel Inc., Masaganang Sakahan Inc., National Agribusiness Corp., National Precision Cutting Tools Inc., National Slipways Corp.; National Stevedoring and Lighterage Corp., National Trucking and Forwarding Corp., National Resources Development Corp., NDC Infrastructure Corp., Northern Foods Corp., Partido Development Corp., Philippine Aerospace Development Corp., Philippine Center for Economic Development; Philippine Convention and Visitors Corp., Philippine Institute for Development Studies, Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health Care, Pinagkaisa Realty Corp., Tacoma Bay Shipping Co., Trade and Investment Development Corp., and ZNAC Rubber Estate Corp.

Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said the 36 corporations have combined appropriations of P223 million, plus P57 million in salaries for top officials in the 2010 budget.

Under Bill 2867, officers and personnel of the affected corporations would be given separation pay equivalent to two-and-a-half months salary for every year of service.

The functions of the firms that they wanted collapsed would be taken over by the departments and agencies to which they are attached.

Earlier, the Rodriguez brothers filed Bill 2653, which seeks a P100,000 monthly cap on the compensation of officers of government corporations.

But the officers would still be entitled to 13th month and a 14th month pay, P10,000 Christmas bonus and a P20,000 annual clothing allowance.

This means they would receive about P1.3 million a year, a lot lower than the tens of millions that they get at present.

According to the Commission on Audit, the highest-paid GOCC officer, Administrator Armand Arreza of Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, received more than P26 million in 2009. With Jess Diaz


by phil star