MANILA: Government Corporate Counsel Rogelio Quevedo on Thursday said the refiled law before Congress covering the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC) will clearly define the powers of the agency and consolidate the OGCC’s powers which are presently covered by a number of presidential decrees and executive orders.
Speaking before the Laging Handa public forum, Quevedo underscored the role of the agency in representing the State in hundreds of government owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) and companies where the government has a stake.
“It will delineate more clearly the relationship of the OGCC and other government corporations. At present what is happening is that the responsibilities of the OGCC are outlined in different presidential decrees and executive orders. If a law created an OGCC charter, the laws can be clarified and more lawyers may be hired,” Quevedo said in Filipino.
He assured that the OGCC will continue in its duty to be a fiscalizer in representing the government.
“We are not only limited to legal matters, we are there on the ‘Board’ of various government corporations because we are independent. So, we promise that we will do our role, not only as statutory legal counsel but also as the fiscalizer in all of these government corporations,” Quevedo said.
“It is important that before any decision of the board of directors is implemented, that contract needs to be given due course,” he added.
If compared to the Commission on Audit (COA), Quevedo said, “the COA is for post-audit once the project is finished, the OGCC, on the other hand, is there before the contract is signed and implemented.”
Last July, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. vetoed Senate Bill 2490 and its counterpart, House of Representatives Bill 9088 titled “An Act Strengthening the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC) by Rationalizing and Further Professionalizing Its Organization, Upgrading Positions and Appropriating Funds Therefore.”
Malacañang said one of the reasons cited by the President for the veto was “the excessive remuneration to be given the OGCC lawyers.”
The other reasons for the veto were the possible violation of the One Trust Fund policy of government, the grant of supervision and control over legal departments of government corporations, as well as the distortion of the relationship with the Secretary of Justice.
Source: Philippines News Agency
