MANILA, Philippines—Justice Secretary Leila de Lima welcomed on Monday the enactment of the GOCC (government-owned and -controlled corporations) Reform Act of 2011, saying the new law would end the virtual rule of “fiefdoms” in some government agencies.
In a statement, De Lima said President Aquino’s signing of the law installed a “mechanism by which the Filipino people can be assured” that the funds of GOCCs “are adequately monitored.”
She said the measure would also ensure that public funds would be “placed not just to licit, but also to much more productive use.”
“(This law) demands more accountability from GOCCs and puts in place measures to curb abuses of their officials,” the justice secretary said, adding:
“GOCCs will no longer be able to operate like independent fiefdoms or ‘governments’ with their own set of rules.”
According to the justice secretary, the exposes on how GOCC officials were milking their agencies with “scandalously excessive salaries” only showed the vulnerability of the GOCC system to such abuse.
“This new law will establish common standards and integrated objectives for all GOCCs in line with their individual roles in the government and economy,” she said.