House bill seeking OGCC abolition bucked

A government-owned corporation yesterday opposed a proposed bill in the House of Representatives seeking to abolish the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC).

The Philippine Export Import Credit Agency (PEICA) said House Bill 5233, which seeks to transfer the OGCC’s mandate to the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) could be detrimental to government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs).

PEICA officer-in-charge and counsel Isabelo Gumaru argued that the bill is an “untenable proposal given the conflict of interest issues that may arise from such a setup.”

The measure was filed by Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez of Davao del Norte, House Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas of Ilocos Norte and House committee on chairman Reynaldo Umali of Oriental Mindoro.

Gumaru agreed with the position of OGCC head Rudolf Jurado that conflict of interest would arise if the OSG would be tasked to represent both the national government and the GOCCs.

“The OSG cannot serve two masters. In other words, it cannot row through two streams. This would be like a private law firm representing opposite sides in the same case,” Gumaru said.

“The OSG proposal would make it the statutory counsel of both the Republic and government corporate entities, which it regulates, and we know from experience that there are instances wherein the national government and GOCCs find themselves on opposing sides of a legal issue. If the OGCC were to be abolished, we would have a scenario wherein lawyers from the same office represent both entities involved in a legal dispute. This would be unethical and improper, a clear violation of our Code of Professional Responsibility,” Gumaru explained.

The PEICA chief cited Canon 15 of the Code of Professional Responsibility for Lawyers, which provides that a lawyer “shall observe candor, fairness and loyalty in all his dealings and transactions with his clients.”

Instead of passing the bill, Gumaru suggested that Congress strengthen the OGCC.

To date, he said there are around 400 pending cases in the OSG and the OGCC, with the OSG representing government agencies such as the Bureau of Internal Revenue and Commission on Audit.

Senators and government lawyers had raised the same issue during a Senate hearing on Feb. 15. –