SEN. Franklin Drilon threatened on Wednesday to file malversation charges against officials of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (Meco), the country’s de facto embassy in Taiwan, if they refuse to turn over to the National Treasury millions of pesos in public funds collected by Meco from passport and visa fees in Taipei.

“I hope that they stop this practice of not turning over to the national coffers their excess funds, because I will file a case for malversation of public funds if they continue with this practice of appropriating for themselves, without any authority, public funds which should be remitted to the National Treasury,” Drilon said.

This developed as Drilon confirmed that a Senate-House conference committee agreed to exempt the Meco from a proposed law instituting drastic reforms in government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCC).

He added: “I warned the board and the officers of Meco, while you have excluded yourselves from this measure because of the political and diplomatic implications of considering Meco as GOCC, it does not mean that Congress will be remiss in its duty to our people to monitor your operations, particularly your use of public funds.”

Briefing reporters after a hearing at the Senate, Drilon also clarified that all economic zone authorities located in various parts of the country were also exempted from coverage of the GOCC reform bill that is expected to be ratified on Monday and submitted to Malacañang for signing into law before Congress adjourns on June 9.

He said the lawmakers reconvened the bicameral conference committee only for the purpose of removing Meco from the coverage of the proposed law after executive officials cited its “diplomatic and political implications.”

He said it was explained to lawmakers that Meco serves as the country’s representative in Taiwan and was organized under the Corporation Code as a private corporation.

“It [Meco] has taken its status very seriously so that they have not been audited by the Commission on Audit, notwithstanding the fact that they have been collecting public funds,” Drilon said adding that the excess of the funds that Meco collects from passport and visa fees in Taipei are “not turned over to the National Treasury but I think to the President’s Social Fund.”

Drilon added, “They set their own terms of compensation, including a very generous retirement plan to the board of directors, where after attending 24 board meetings in Taiwan, they can retire at P600,000 per year of service. All of these prompted the committee and the authors of this measure and the bicam to agree that Meco should be subjected to stricter rules of governance as outlined in this measure.”

But he said Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario made representations that “this could have political and diplomatic implications.”

“Notwithstanding my previous agreement with the board, Meco chairman Amadeo Perez has apparently changed his mind. We do not want to have this bill snagged because of that one issue and, therefore, we have agreed to the exclusion of MECO,” the senator said.

Drilon asserted that as chairman of the Oversight Committee on Public Expenditures, he would closely monitor Meco’s operations.