Reform of Government-Owned and Controlled Corporations (GOCCs)

Continued reliance on government subsidies amidst reports of excesses and financial mismanagement in the past prompted the creation of the Governance Commission for GOCCs (GCG) under RA 10149 or the GOCC Governance Act of 2011. The GCG serves as an oversight and policy-making body for GOCCs to ensure their financial viability and responsiveness to the needs of the public. This has resulted to total dividends and other remittances to yield P95.90 billion (averaging P27.40 billion a year) from 2011 to June 2014 alone, compared to a mere P81.54 billion (averaging P9.06 billion a year) from 2002 to 2010.

The SSS pension system was also reformed to address the problem on unfunded liability and to respond to the clamor for higher benefits. In January 2014, the SSS has started the increase in contribution rate from 10.4 percent to 11 percent and in the maximum monthly salary credit from P15,000 to P16,000. These, together with the five-percent across-the-board pension increase, which the SSS is also set to implement, are expected to lower the SSS’ unfunded liabilities by P141 billion and increase its fund life from 2039 to 2043.