DOF to launch better online reporting of GOCC debts, liabilities

The Department of Finance (DOF) is set to launch an online tool that aims to streamline the reporting of data pertaining to the debts and other liabilities of government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs).

In a report to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, the DOF’s Corporate Affairs Group (CAG) said the use of the GOCCs’ Liabilities Reporting and Processing Tool (GLRPT) will help the department in its analysis of the debts of state-run firms, and enable it to better manage and formulate strategies on the financial exposure of the government in relation to their liabilities.

Dominguez instructed the CAG in a recent DOF executive committee (execom) meeting to ask the Governance Commission for GOCCs (GCG) to incorporate compliance with this digital tool in its evaluation of the performance of state-run firms.

DOF-CAG director Joan Castillo said the launch of the GLRPT will involve the orientation and training of GOCC personnel on the use of the online reporting tool.

She said the GCG has agreed to transfer its web-based debt reporting system to the DOF as part of the GLRPT.

“The Central Management Information Office (CMIO) of the DOF further developed the system by expanding the GOCC coverage, enhancing the data field and creating a report template,” Castillo said in her report to Dominguez during the execom meeting.

Earlier, Dominguez urged the GCG to incorporate the assessments made by regulatory agencies in evaluating the performance of GOCCs to further improve its oversight functions and avoid errors in the policy-making process of the government.

Dominguez made the call after he observed several instances of “incongruence” between the evaluation done by the GCG on GOCCs and those made by particular agencies regulating these firms.

As ex-officio member of the GCG, Dominguez called on the Commission to adopt his recommendation in refining its evaluation methods and factoring in the findings of regulators in assessing and rating GOCCs.

Dominguez, as Secretary of Finance, also sits as ex-officio chairman of eight GOCCs and director of 20 state corporations, where he noticed the incongruence between the evaluation made by the GCG and those by regulatory agencies.

He cited the case of the Insurance Commission (IC) whose review of the performance of some government insurance corporations contrasted sharply with the assessment by the GCG.

Such discrepancies “could cause confusion among the regulated and reviewed state enterprises” and “more seriously, could bring forth errors in policies for the government,” Dominguez said.

Dominguez said the GCG should make its review methodologies relevant to the industry sectors to help it identify factors peculiar to each GOCC “and, ultimately, come up with a scorecard that accurately measures the achievement of the vision, mission and mandates of GOCCs.”