Rody urged to abolish 21 other state agencies

A party-list congressman is urging President Duterte to abolish at least 21 other government agencies following his closure of the Philippine Sugar Corp.

Rep. Neil Abayon of Aangat Tayo said yesterday some of the agencies he is proposing to abolish would eventually have to shut down once the fiscal incentives rationalization program the administration is pushing is implemented.

The power to grant incentives would be taken away from these offices, rendering them useless, he explained.

He said various agencies tasked to promote investments could be merged into one department in charge of promoting investments and attracting investors.

The state offices Abayon is proposing to abolish are Clark Development Corp., John Hay Management Corp., First Cavite Industrial Estate Inc., Poro Point Management Corp., Duty Free Philippines Inc., Batangas Land Co., Pinagkaisa Realty Corp., Kamayan Realty Corp., GY Real Estate Inc., Board of Investments, Philippine Economic Zone Authority, Public-Private Partnerships Center and Bases Conversion and Development Authority.

He also wants special economic zones closed, including Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, PHIVIDEC Industrial Authority, Philippine Retirement Authority, Cagayan Economic Zone Authority, Freeport Area of Bataan, Aurora Pacific Economic Zone, Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone and Southern Philippines Development Authority.

Abayon has filed a bill that seeks to create a department of investments promotion to take over the functions of several of these agencies whose principal task is to promote investments.

“Having so many investment promotion and area development agencies has caused confusion in the business community, created more red tape, needlessly enlarged the bureaucracy, resulted in hundreds of millions of pesos in lost revenue and caused higher administration costs, including the compensation and benefits of a multitude of government officials,” he said.

The other agencies in his list, like the real estate companies, are obviously not needed, he added. To him, real property development and real estate corporations are better left to the private sector.

Abayon pointed out that there are many other redundant and useless government agencies and corporations that could be shut down to save billions in taxpayers’ money.