Malacañang Initiates GOCC Governance Day

President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III received on 28 January 2011 dividend checks worth over 29 million pesos from 19 Government Owned and Controlled Corporations (GOCCs). Topping the list of billionaire GOCCs were the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP), Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP).

PCDA, AFP Rot Uncovered

The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee uncovered on 27 January 2011 (Thursday) the so-called Provision for Command-Directed Acitivities (PCDA), a name that sounded much like a pork barrel but that the AFP Chief of Staff controlls, and is being used to address his personal needs. This fund receives contribution from the J staff of the General Headquarter (GHQ) at Camp Aguinaldo (that the military refers to as the "White House"), the official residence of the Staff Chief.

In his testimony befor the committee, former AFP budget officer and retired Lt. Col. George Rabusa testified that his office is required to raise P40 million a month under the PCDA to fund the military chief's personal needs. And since the J staff contributions fall short, the major services in the Navy and the Army as well as key budgetary units like the AFP medical centers augment the shortfall in order to meet this P480 million requirement a year. The Vice Chief of Staff and the next lower ranked officers also benefited from PCDA. GMANews.TV reported the monthly allowance as P10 million with half of it used for personal needs. Vice Chief of Staffs supposedly received P1 million a month.

In fact, when former AFP Chief of Staff Angelo Reyes retired in 2001, he received from PCDA a send-off among of P50 million, according to Rabusa. A practice that has been in the military for the last 20 years. In his 20 months as military chief, he probably received around P100 million, Rabusa computed.

SOURCES
De Santos, Jonathan: "Ex-military chief's P50M 'send-off' gift exposed," SunStar Manila 28 January 2011
LBG/KBK: "Witness: Reyes got P50-M 'pabaon' when he retired from AFP," GMANews.TV 27 January 2011

General Garcia Won an Ombudsman Deal

Former Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo suggested to PNoy to intervene and move to nullify the deal that Retired Major General Carlos Garcia obtained with the Ombudsman to plea guilty to lesser charges of direct bribery and money laundering before the Sandiganbayan in exchange with walking away from the non-bailable case of plunder charges over the P303.27 million he stole from the government when he was military comptroller assigned to Camp Crame. In the deal, he agreed to return a portion of the money. He walked out free from jail on 17 December 2010 after posting a P60,000 bail. Special prosecutor Wendell Sulit defended the deal as it will allow the government "immediate control of Garcia's assets and save the state from a long legal process," TJ Burgonio of Philippine Daily Inquirer reported.

This is a tragic blow to the fight against graft and corruption. And if the Ombudsman proves to have shady motives behind this deal, the Philippine judicial system and the interest of the Filipino people will be in serious trouble.

Philippines Gets White in OECD List

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) placed the Philippines in its "white list" as Department of Finance passed regulations allowing a swap of bank information between counterpart banks in keeping with the international convention on tax standards. Countries in the list are those who have substantially implemented these tax standards. Based in Parish, France, OECD was founded in 1961, and currently has 33 member countries, which the country is still not among them. Among Asian countries, only Japan and Korea so far qualified for membership. [Related Reports: Agence France-Presse: "Philippine targets cheats' offshore bank accounts," msn News 30 September 2010]  

Philippines Receives MCC $434-M Grant

On 24 September 2010 (Friday), Philippine Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima and MCC CEO Daniel Yohannes signed the $434 million Republic of the Philippines-Millenium Challenge Corporation (GRP-MCC) Compact at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. PNoy renewed his commitment against corruption and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised Filipino hardwork and bounced off the sentiments of Filipinos working in the US against the control of Filipino "elite in business and politics that basically call the shots," providing "not much room for someone who's hardworking, but not connected." (See Worldwide Recognitions page.) 

Truth Commission Begins Mandate

The Philippine Truth Commission, chaired by retured SC Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. will proceed to follow their appointed mission on Wednesday, 15 September 2010, despite ongoing debate in the Supreme Court for PTC's constitutionality. [Source: Edu Punay, Aurea Calica, Jose Rodel Clapano, Delon Porcalla: "Supreme Court asks Palace to hold implementation of EO 1" The Philippine Star 14 September 2010] 

Philippine GOCCs Has Huge Share of the National Debt

The Senate Development Budget Coordinating Committee took a dose of shock on 13 September 2010 when it learned that 43 percent of the Philippine national debt came from the Government Owned and Controlled Corporations. Known for their "very generous" pay and incentives, that could come as no surprise, after all. [See GOCCs/GFIs page for details.]