GCG to conduct comprehensive review of GOCCs

The Governance Commission for Government-Owned or -Controlled Corporations (GCG) will conduct a comprehensive review of the mandates and performance of state-run corporations under its jurisdiction to determine which could be recommended for abolition, merging, or retention.

In a statement on Friday, the GCG said the review aims to assess economic viability, responsiveness to the needs of the public, and consistency with national development policies and programs of GOCCs.

It said that the review process will involve consultations with GOCCS and concerned stakeholders, a review of the charters of GOCCs, scorecards, and an assessment of data on their contributions to national development.  

There are 118 GOCCs under the jurisdiction of the GCG, with combined assets amounting to about P10 trillion.

The agency said the results of its comprehensive review as well as its recommendations will be submitted to Congress for consideration in crafting, revising, and/or modifying the charters of GOCCs.

"These may include recommendations on whether certain government corporations will be abolished, merged, or retained," it said.

"As some of the charters of the GOCCs are about to expire, the GCG will also make recommendations on whether to extend or not to extend their charters," it added.

Republic Act 10149 or the GOCC Governance Act of 2011 provides that the GCG can evaluate the performance and determine the relevance of the GOCC, to ascertain whether such a GOCC should be reorganized, merged, streamlined, abolished, or privatized, in consultation with the department or agency to which it is attached. 

In determining whether a GOCC should be abolished, merged with another, privatized, or retained, the GCG shall be guided by any of the following standards: 

• The functions or purposes for which the GOCC was created are no longer relevant to the state or no longer consistent with the state's national development policy;
• The GOCC’s functions or purposes duplicate or unnecessarily overlap with functions, programs, activities or projects already provided by a government agency; and
• The GOCC is not producing the desired outcomes, is no longer achieving the objectives and purposes for which it was originally designed and implemented, and/or not cost-efficient, and does not generate the level of social, physical, and economic returns vis-à-vis the resource inputs.

"The President’s marching orders to me were very short: ‘Let us help our country.’ Insofar as the GOCCs are concerned, the President wants to have rightsizing and transparency to take care of its more than P10 trillion assets and to avoid the dissipation of public funds," said GCG Chairperson Alex Quiroz. — VBL, GMA Integrated News