Abolish more GOCCs, Noy urged

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino was urged yesterday to abolish all government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) that the Commission on Audit (COA) has linked to the multibillion-peso congressional pork barrel scam.

Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares said Aquino should include the National Livelihood Development Corp. (NLDC) among the state firms that would be collapsed.

He said the NLDC, a subsidiary of Land Bank of the Philippines, deserves to be abolished “for serving as a conduit of more than P1 billion of billions in misused lawmakers’ pork barrel funds.”

Based on the COA’s examination of pork barrel funds disbursed between 2007 and 2009, lawmakers funneled billions to bogus non-government organizations (NGOs) linked to alleged scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles.

The lawmakers used as conduits the NLDC, Philippine Forest Corp. (PFC), ZNAC Rubber Estate (ZREC), National Agribusiness Corp. (NABCOR), and the Technology Resource Center, which is attached to the Department of Science and Technology.

Quoting the COA report, Colmenares said the audit agency has found five senators and eight former congressmen misused their pork barrel funds through these government corporations.

The key officers of these state firms are now facing plunder or graft charges before the Office of the Ombudsman, along with senators and several former congressmen.

Colmenares noted that one of the corporate officers charged is Gondelina Amata, NLDC president and vice chairman. Land Bank president Gilda Pico is the corporation’s chairman.

Colmenares, however, lamented that while the NLDC and its president have been linked to the pork barrel scam, the Governance Commission for GOCCs (GCG) even approved bonuses for its board of directors for alleged good performance in 2012.

He noted that Amata, Concepcion Dodd and Manuel Gotis received P342,000 each, while Susana Leones and Sheila de Leon pocketed P361,000 and P100,000, respectively.

Palace: Abolished GOCCs not viable

Colmenares made the call after President Aquino gave the green light to abolish the PFC, ZREC and NABCOR.

In a statement yesterday, deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte noted that the reason behind the abolition is the Aquino administration’s policy that “a public service is a public trust,” where the national government is always in “pursuit of maximizing efficiency and promoting accountability.”

“The decision to abolish them was based on financial viability and relevance to national development plans study conducted by the Governance Commission for GOCCs, which is the regulatory agency for such corporations,” she added.

The three GOCCs were “no longer financially viable,” had no “tangible social impact,” and the mandate for which they were created was not fulfilled.

“The President gave his clearance for the formation of a technical working group to wind down operations and transfer relevant functions and operations, as well as to attend to the separation pay for employees in keeping with Civil Service rules,” Valte said.

Separation packages for officials and personnel of these GOCCs would have to be withheld for purposes of checking whether they “committed graft or other corrupt practices.”

Valte also warned that more GOCCs may be abolished as the GCG fulfills its mandate to rationalize GOCCs in the country.

Cayetano: DA official linked to scam still in gov’t

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano questioned the continued presence of an official of the Department of Agriculture (DA) despite his link to Napoles.

Cayetano noted that Livelihood Development Council acting executive director Manuel Jarmin was linked to Napoles when he was just an employee of the DA at the time when she was in the thick of dealing with the pork barrel of legislators.

During one of the public hearings of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee on the pork barrel scam, former NABCOR president Alan Javellana testified that it was Jarmin who introduced him to Napoles.

“I was looking into the news. They said that NABCOR former president Alan Javellana was introduced to Napoles and whistle-blower Benhur Luy by a Department of Agriculture employee named Manuel Jarmin. We found out that he is now the acting director of the Livestock Development Council of DA. He has been the acting director since 2010,” Cayetano said during the resumption of the Blue Ribbon hearing the other day.

Cayetano also said that the same Manuel Jarmin was listed as a nominee of a party-list group established by the Napoleses in 2007. It was the Samahan ng mga Mangangalakal sa Ikauunlad ng Ekonomiya or SMILE, which was later renamed as A-SMILE.

The senator expressed concern that Jarmin, despite his relations with the Napoleses, continues to hold a position in government.

“I believe in the sincerity of the President for the complete cleansing (of government) and going after all those who committed graft and corruption. It’s time for action. Enough talk and investigations, it is time to charge and jail those who committed crimes,” Cayetano said.

But he stressed that people would only see the efforts of the Aquino administration against corruption if there are people charged and sent to jail. “If this does not happen and no money is returned or recovered, then the government has failed.” – With Delon Porcalla, Marvin Sy, Jessa Agua