Palace slashes GOCC subsidies

MANILA, Philippines—Sending a strong message to officials of government corporations, President Benigno Aquino III has slashed the allocation for subsidies to government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs).

In the budget proposal submitted to Congress on Tuesday by Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, as much as P16.016 billion was cut from the item, “budgetary support to government corporations” in the proposed P1.645-trillion national budget for 2011.

From a high of P32.3 billion this year, the proposed GOCC subsidy went down to P23.3 billion.

The move came on the heels of a Commission on Audit (COA) report showing that GOCC officials are the highest paid officials of government.

The COA report triggered calls for investigations in Congress. The Senate has already begun hearings and summoned top GOCC officials, but the House of Representatives has yet to schedule its own inquiry.

Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II, who has called for an inquiry in the House, said the fat paychecks and allowances had no place in a country with rising hunger and poverty levels and a crippling budget deficit.

Abad told reporters that the Palace was drafting an executive order to “rationalize” the pay scales of all GOCCs, inclusive of all representation and travel allowances.

He said Malacañang could not just unilaterally impose a cap on the salaries and perks since most of the GOCCs have charters governing their operations. –Michael Lim Ubac, Philippine Daily Inquirer