Senate panel approves GCG’s P245.7-M proposed budget for 2023

The proposed P245.7-million budget for 2023 of the Governance Commission for Government-Owned-and-Controlled Corporations (GCG) was approved on Friday by the Senate finance subcommittee.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, who presided over the hearing as chairman of the subcommittee, said that the agency’s proposed budget is now up for plenary debate.

The GCG’s proposed budget under the National Expenditure Program is P50.4 million higher than the current year’s allocation. 

The bulk or 60% of the proposed budget amounting to P148.42 million is earmarked for maintenance and operating expenses, while the remaining 40% or P97.28 million is allocated for personnel services.

GCG Director Johann Carlos Barcena, however, said that “the personnel services for GCG only account for around 33% of our total personnel.”

Barcena said that currently only 74 out of the 231 authorized positions in the agency are filled “and the budget allocated to us by the DBM (Department of Budget and Management) for 2023 only accounts for the current manpower that we have.”

He said the GCG is planning to fill the vacant positions so the agency can closely monitor the GOCCs under the agency’s jurisdiction.

The GCG official also said that no capital outlay budget was approved by the DBM for the agency for 2023, but the commission requested P20.5 million for the program.

Barcena said the GCG is on track to achieve 90% utilization of its 2022 budget.

“The DBM disapproved around P50 million that we requested… this amount primarily accounts for the lease of office space for GCG in line with our thrust to fill up the remaining 66% of our plantilla and that would actually entail us having to use more office space to accommodate this new personnel as well as cybersecurity measures that were supposed to be implemented in our integrated corporate reporting system,” he said.

Gatchalian expressed confidence that there will be “a lot of improvement” in the agency with the GCG now headed by former Sandiganbayan Justice Alex Quiroz and the appointment of new commissioners.

“I know the budget is not so big, considering the overall budget of the national government. My principle is always: there’s a new chance of improving the agency under new management,” Gatchalian said. 

At the hearing, Gatchalian asked Quiroz what strategies could be employed to remove bottlenecks in the process of abolishing state-run companies, noting that about 25 corporations are still in various stages of liquidation for almost 10 years already. 

In response, Quiroz vowed to review and introduce "some dynamics" to hasten the process. — VBL, GMA News