Palace to abolish several agencies

The Office of the President has agreed that many of the 32 task forces, commissions, committees, and other agencies under it should be abolished or merged with the appropriate departments.

However, instead of Congress causing the abolition of these offices by starving them of funds, it will be the Palace that will do the job within a one-year period, Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr. (Lakas, Camarines Sur) said yesterday.

Andaya chairs the House appropriations committee which is now reviewing the proposed P781-billion 2002 budget.

The initiatives to collapse or transfer many of the 32 Malacañang "appendages" came from opposition congressmen led by Minority Leader Carlos Padilla (LDP, Nueva Vizcaya).

According to Padilla, these agencies are duplicating the jobs of executive departments and their abolition would save the government nearly P1 billion next year.

Some of these offices have already outlived their usefulness, he said.

Padilla said the Arroyo administration, by continuing to provide funds to these agencies, is not really pursuing a policy of austerity.

Andaya said his committee and Malacañang representatives have agreed on a one-year phase-out period beginning in January "because we can’t just pull the plug immediately."

He said although the 32 agencies are creations of President Arroyo and her predecessors, several of their officials are career officers who have to be relocated to other offices where their skills are needed.

He said it is the Palace that should decommission these agencies because they are presidential creations.

Andaya agreed with the opposition that some Palace appendages have overlapping, if not exactly the same, functions.

He cited the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC), a creation of ousted President Joseph Estrada, and the National Anti-Crime Commission (NACC), which President Arroyo created some months ago.

The PAOCC, with a P576-million budget next year, is the successor of the Presidential Anti-Crime Commission, a creation of former President Fidel Ramos.

The NACC has a 2002 budget of P12 million, which is just a small fraction of the PAOCC outlay. The PAOCC is chaired by Mrs. Arroyo, while the other commission is headed by Justice Secretary Hernando Perez. Among the Malacañang appendages are Inter-Agency Committee on Intellectual Property Rights, National Program for Unification and Development Council, Lingayen Gulf Coastal Area Management Commission, North Luzon Growth Commission, Rizal-Laguna-Quezon Growth Area Commission;

Presidential Consultative Committee on Appointment of Philippine National Police Officials, Presidential Commission on Bicol Tourism Special Development Project, Banaue Rice Terraces Task Force, Task Force on 20/20 Initiatives, Philippine International Film Television Office, and Aklan Provincial Tourism Special Development Project Task Force.

The 32 agencies have a combined budget of P967 million for 2002, P22 million higher than their 2001 appropriations.