Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon called Sunday for the abolition of the Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC) which he said is merely duplicating other lead government agencies’ procurement functions.
(Senate of the Philippines / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
Drilon, who had earlier exposed details of the P33-billion “parked” funds in PITC bank accounts, said he finds it necessary to abolish the trading arm of the Department of Trading Industry (DTI) due to its “illegal and immoral” policies that is prejudicial to the government.
“Hindi naman sila kailangan. May procurement service ang DBM (Department of Budget and Management).Pareho ang ginagawa nila (They are not needed. DBM also has a procurement service. They have the same function),” Drilon said in an interview over radio DZBB.
The Senate minority leader said the abolition of the PITC can be done through an executive order.
“Puwede, dahilan sa binuo nating batas na GCG (Governance Commission for GOCCs) Act. Ang GCG ay may kapangyarhang tingnan kung ang isang GOCC, kung sa tingin nila ay duplication o puwede nang gawin ng private sector. Puwede nilang irekomenda sa Pangulo na buwagin at ipatigil na ang operasyon ng PITC, (That’s possible because of the GCG Act. The GCG has the authority to ascertain if a GOCC is duplicating another agency’s job or if that can be done by the private sector. They can recommend to the President to abolish and stop the operations of the PITC),” he said.
“Buwagin na lang at duplication lang iyan. Nape-perwisyo ang pamahalaan dahilan sa pagtatago nila ng pera ng pamahalaan (It should be abolished and their functions are merely a duplication. They are doing injurious things to the government because they have been keeping unused state funds),” he added.
Drilon reiterated he is saddened by DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez’s stand on the PITC controversy when Lopez denied the existence of the parked unused government funds and challenged him to reveal the Commission on Audit’s (CoA) report regarding PITC’s cash assets.
“I challenge Secretary Lopez, ilabas niya ang mga CoA audit reports at doon makikita natin ang cash asset, ibig sabihin, ‘yung pondo sa pamahalaan. Magkano ang liabilities, mga ganong ding halaga ‘yun (he should release the CoA audit reports and there you will see the cash asset or the amount of government funds lodged under the agency. How much are their liabilities, and I think the amount is the same),” he said.
“I am saddened by the way Secretary Lopez is turning a blind eye. Para siyang bulag. Itong mali kitang-kita na. Iyan ay nasa libro, hindi imbento yan, nasa CoA report. Tingnan mo ang report, nasa P1 billion ang hindi binabalik sa government (He’s like a blind person. The anomalies are already obvious. It’s in the books, it wasn’t invented, it is in the CoA report. Just check the report and you can see PITC is not returning to the government about P1 billion in cash),” Drilon said.