‘Overbearing’ provisions prompt Marcos to veto bill strengthening OGCC

MANILA, Philippines (Updated 3:05 p.m.) — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. vetoed a bill that seeks to strengthen the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel over certain provisions, particularly on the salaries and benefits of its staff.

Marcos said in his veto message to Congress that while he agrees with the need to strengthen the OGCC, the principal law office of all government owned and controlled corporations, he found some portions of the proposal to be “overbearing.”

Marcos said he found the grant of remuneration, incentives, benefits, allowances and honoraria to OGCC staff to be “excessive” and “violates the principles of equity and standardization.”

He cited the proposed increase in the salary grade of the government corporate counsel from 30 to 31, which would effectively place it on the same level as that of the justice secretary. Marcos said such a provision would "distort the supervisor-subordinate relationship" between the two officials.

He also mentioned the provisions on the grant of attorney's fees and special assessments that is not similarly given to other lawyers of different executive agencies; the control and supervision over the legal departments of all government corporations, which he claimed may be prone to an "unbridled abuse of authority;" and the trust fund in the name of the OGCC, which he said is against the principle of the government's one-fund policy.

He also warned that the proposal to give the OGCC control and supervision over the legal departments of all government corporations “may be prone to an unbridled abuse of authority.”

Marcos also rejected the creation of a trust fund in the name of the OGCC, which he said violated the principle of the government’s one-fund policy.

“Having examined the bill in its entirety and considering the strong opposition of the Cabinet economic managers due to the inequity in compensation and substantial fiscal risks it may bring to the country, I am not persuaded,” he said.

Marcos, nevertheless, described the general intent of the bill as "laudable," noting that it sought to amend the existing charter of the OGCC to meet current contingencies. He noted that the number of government corporations has increased from 59 in 1983 to 732 in the present.

The proposal to strengthen the OGCC was contained in Senate Bill No. 2490 and House Bill No. 9088. The measure would have allowed the OGCC to exercise control and supervision over the legal departments of all government corporations, conduct periodic performance audits of the in-house lawyers or legal departments of government corporations and recommend appropriate actions to them.

It would have raised the salary grades for the basic monthly compensation of OGCC legal personnel and allowed the office to receive attorney's fees awarded by a court, tribunal or panel, including awards or judgments stipulated under court-approved compromise agreements.

The bill also enumerated funding sources for the health care services, insurance premiums, professional, educational and registration fees and contracted transportation benefits of OGCC employees. The amount collected for the benefits would have constituted a trust fund in the name of OGCC to be managed and used by the government corporate counsel to carry out the provisions of the law.

Under the 1987 Constitution, the president has 30 days to sign or veto a bill sent to his office. If the president does not act on the measure within 30 days, it would lapse into law. — Xave Gregorio and Alexis Romero, with a report from Kristine Joy Patag