Manila jail used as collateral by govt agency — official

At the conclusion of the Senate hearings on government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCC) on Monday, senators yet again made a startling discovery upon learning that a penal facility in Manila is now part of a housing agency’s assets. Home Guaranty Corp. (HGC) president Elmer Cadano admitted it has acquired the Manila City Jail as collateral when it guaranteed a loan of the Philippine Estate Authority (PEA). “We also have in our portfolio the old Bilibid compound," Cadano said. The Senate committees on finance and on government corporations conducted a total of six hearings following President Benigno Aquino III’s disclosure during his first State of the Nation Address that several GOCC officials have been receiving obscenely large salaries and perks. “It is so unusual that the City Jail is part of the assets of the HGC. How they ended up with those assets and how they valued these assets in their books is something that would have to be examined closely," said Sen. Franklin Drilon, who heads the finance committee, at a press briefing after the hearing. In its book, HGC valued the city jail at P1 billion, but Cadano said its latest value may reach as much as P5 billion. Law vs GOCCs, GFIs Drilon said they will now start the process of crafting the Public Enterprise Corporate Governance Act, to be proposed in both chambers of Congress, to review and oversee all 157 GOCCs and government financial institutions (GFIs). He added a Government Corporate Monitoring and Coordinating Council will also be created anew to review the mandates of these GOCCs. Drilon explained the council existed before but had no power to penalize GOCCs that refuse to comply with its directives. “We will intend to provide this monitoring council with teeth so that they can impose standards of performance," he said. The council will be tasked to, among others, recommend whether certain GOCCs need to be dissolved or merged, impose standards of performance for the board of directors, and review the salary structure and other compensation of GOCCs for their employees. “Hopefully before the month is over or before we adjourn on October 15, we should be able to submit this proposed legislation to the Senate and start the debate. Hopefully by the first half of next year, we should have a law already in place," said Drilon. Globe Asiatique For his part, Sen. Sergio Osmeña III said the committee on banks, financial institutions and currencies which he heads will resume its hearing next week on the controversial financial arrangement between Home Development Mutual Fund or Pag-IBIG Fund, also a GOCC, and real estate developer Globe Asiatique Realty Holdings Corp. It was earlier disclosed that Globe Asiatique was able to take out at least P6.6 billion in housing loan proceeds for buyers of its housing projects in Pampanga. The units, however, were not yet complete, way below standard, unoccupied, or were closed. Some of the buyers were likewise alleged to be fake members of Pag-IBIG, while others were ineligible for membership. Another group of buyers used spurious loan accounts. Osmeña said former Vice President Noli de Castro will attend the hearing, tentatively scheduled for Thursday. “I already talked with him. I asked him to come and attend the hearing. He promised he would," he said. De Castro was the concurrent chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Council (HUDCC) during the Arroyo administration. Osmeña said no one will be spared from the probe. “Nobody is off the hook because I have not even started." - KBK, GMANews.TV