The Governance Commission for Government-Owned or -Controlled Corporations (GCG) seeks to strengthen its mandates through amendments to Republic Act No. (RA) 10149 or the GOCC Governance Act of 2011.
“In order to efficiently operate as a regulatory body for the GOCC sector, RA 10149 is proposed to be amended to address issues and clarify and strengthen the powers and functions of the GCG,” said GCG Chairperson Justice Alex L. Quiroz (ret.).
The GCG is a creation of RA 10149.
The agency is set to celebrate its 12th anniversary on 6 June 2023.
In the performance of its duties and functions during the past years, several issues have been raised regarding the scope and even legality of the GCG’s powers and functions under its Charter.
On Thursday, 25 May 2023, Chairperson Quiroz and GCG Commissioner Atty. Gideon D.V. Mortel met with House Speaker Ferdinand Romualdez to discuss the proposed amendments.
Commissioner Mortel said that there were already draft bills to be submitted to the House leadership as he discussed it already with the Paranaque First District Representative Edwin L. Olivarez, the chairperson of the House Committee on Government Enterprises and Privatization.
In December 2022, the GCG also submitted its proposed amendments to Senator Alan Peter S. Cayetano, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Government Corporations and Public Enterprises.
Among the salient points of the proposed amendments is the standardization of the definition of GOCCs.
For continuity and efficiency in the discharge of its mandates, the GCG also seeks to fix the terms of office of the GCG Chairperson and Commissioners and create an office for a GCG Executive Director.
To strengthen its oversight powers, the agency is asking Congress for subpoena and contempt powers as well as investigative and disciplinary powers.
It is also seeking express power to consolidate, rationalize, and integrate GOCCs into national government agencies (NGAs).
The agency seeks to be granted the authority to determine the appropriate incentive programs for all employees affected by any rationalization, reorganization, merger, consolidation, integration into an NGA, abolition, or privatization of GOCCs.
Chairperson Quiroz said that a study of the profiles of GOCCs under the GCG indicates that some GOCCs have functions that are duplicative of what is already being carried out by other NGAs or GOCCs.
“We can recommend to the Office of the President that it would be economical for those GOCCs which are not financially viable, but are performing vital public service, to be converted into or transferred to NGAs,” Chairperson Quiroz explained.
