EVEN in the absence of a new law, Senator Juan Edgardo Angara asserts that the Marcos administration can already start “rightsizing” the bloated bureaucracy.
The senator suggested that Malacañang begin with government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs).
Angara, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, affirmed that the Executive is empowered to re-organize the GOCCs as provided by law, citing the Governance Act of 2011 authored by former Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon.
As provided under the Drilon law, the President can move to reorganize, merge or abolish GOCCs based on the recommendation of the Governance Commission for GOCCs, or GCG.
In a radio interview, Drilon had confirmed that under that law, the GOCC is mandated to evaluate the performance of the GOCCs, as well as the salaries of its officials.
For his part, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian suggested for consideration the tack of privatizing a number of GOCCs as part of a Malacañang Palace plan on rightsizing the government.
Noting that there are a number of “inefficient” GOCCs but which bear important mandates, he suggested it may be better to have them run by the private sector.
He recalled that in a 2020 budget hearing, the GOCC Governance Commission had reported that 70 of the 118 GOCCS were classified as “poor’ or “weak in performance” and are constantly relying on heavy government subsidies.
It was also reported that 12 GOCCs were abolished due to lack of outputs or revenues; and nine more were closed down due to duplication or overlapping functions, apart from nine more that were abolished because they do not operate anymore. Butch Fernandez
