Breakup of NFA, Pagcor functions planned

The government wants to split into two separate agencies the National Food Authority as well as the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. to separate their commercial and regulatory functions.

“That’s the initial plan when you have agencies which have both regulatory and commercial functions. We believe that the government should only perform regulatory and not commercial functions, and therefore dispose of by sale or close down commercial operations” of the two government-owned or -controlled corporations (GOCCs), Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III told reporters Monday.

Dominguez said they will discuss this plan with the Governance Commission for GOCCs (GCG), which oversees state-run firms, including both the NFA and Pagcor.

In the case of the NFA, Dominguez clarified that they will not abolish the grains agency.

“Definitely, the regulatory function [of the NFA] will not be removed,” the finance chief said.

Early this month, Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco was quoted in news reports as saying that he will recommend to President Duterte the abolition of the NFA, as well as the National Electrification Administration and the National Irrigation Administration, citing inefficiencies in these three agencies.

Last year, the GCG said that there were 14 GOCCs that had been the subject of evaluation, after which the GCG would decide if they would be dissolved.

GCG data showed that as of end-2014, the number of GOCCs had been trimmed to 100 from 158 in 2012. In 2015, two GOCCs were shut down: People’s Credit and Finance Corp., and National Livelihood Development Corp. Ben O. de Vera