Senate ratifies GOCC bill, OKs 3 others

The Senate on Monday ratified a proposed measure seeking to create a body that will govern government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs). Only Sen. Joker Arroyo refused to vote on the ratification of the GOCC Governance Act of 2011, calling it a "patronage bill under the guise of reforming the scandalous emoluments in some GOCCs." "It is a blanket authority for the mass lay-off of 157 CEOs and 1,570 directors in the 157 GOCCs. The CEOs and directors do not have to be informed or removed, all that needs to be done is appoint their successors, and pronto, they are automatically removed," Arroyo said during Monday's Senate session. He likewise said the GOCC bill disregards the tenure and other provisions of the charters of the various GOCCs. "Certain provisions of the bill suffer from constitutional infirmity," he said. But Senator Franklin Drilon, author and sponsor of the bill, had earlier said he believes that they can defend the constitutionality of the bill. He likewise said that the bill protects the State’s rank and file employees. The congressional oversight committee on public expenditures had earlier approved the GOCC bill but the panel was reconvened after Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario asked them to exclude the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) from the coverage of the GOCC bill for diplomatic and political reasons. On Monday, Drilon said they agreed to exclude MECO from the measure but that MECO chairman Amadeo Perez had committed to "submit itself to good governance principles," including an audit. A responsible commission Under the GOCC Governance Act of 2011, a Governance Commission for GOCCs (GCG) shall be created to oversee GOCCs and government financial institutions (GFI). The GCG shall be responsible for setting the compensation, per diems, allowances, and bonuses of the members of the board of directors or trustees of State firms. Last year, President Benigno Aquino III, through Executive Order 7, suspended the bonuses and allowances of GOCC executives after he alleged in his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) the excessive perks received by officials of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) under the previous administration. In February this year, he signed an executive order standardizing the salaries and bonuses of GOCC and GFI executives. Aquino later on certified as urgent the GOCC bill. After ratification by the Senate and by the House of Representatives, the GOCC bill will be submitted to Malacañang for Aquino’s signature. Other bills approved The Senate on Monday also approved on third and final reading Senate Bills 2701, 2748, and 2802. SB 2701 seeks to repeal Articles 130 and 131 of the Labor Code of the Philippines, which prohibit nighttime work (generally between 12 midnight and 6 a.m.) for women in industrial, commercial, and non-industrial undertakings. "These stipulations prove oppressive when we look at the boom of call center industry which operates on a 24-hour system. In addition before women workers can actually work, they have to suffer a burdensome process of securing paper work and permits," said the measure's principal author Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada in a statement released Monday. The other authors of the bill include Senators Francis Pangilinan, Ramon Bong Revilla Jr., Lito Lapid, and Loren Legarda. On the other hand, SB 2748 seeks the "expeditious and timely" release of the retirement pay, pension, and other benefits of government employees, except those given by the GSIS, within 30 days after retirement. “Public officers and employees who have spent the best years of their lives serving government and the public should not be made to unreasonably wait and suffer unexplainable delay in their receipt of benefits, which are due them under the law," said the bill's author Senator Antonio Trillanes IV. SB 2802, meanwhile, seeks to restructure daycares into early childhood education centers and craft a formal curriculum to help pre-school pupils to help cope with elementary lessons. The bill was authored by Estrada, Senators Edgardo Angara and Miriam Defensor-Santiago. — VS, GMA News