A LEADER of the House of Representatives is pushing for the passage of a bill abolishing the Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC), which is attached to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
In House Bill 10221, Deputy Speaker Rufus Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro said the PITC was created under Presidential Decree No. 252 to establish and pursue trade with “socialist and other centrally planned economy countries.”
However, the lawmaker said there are only two such economies—Cuba and North Korea.
Also, he added that trade liberalization and the passage of Republic Act No. 9184, or the Government Procurement Reform Act, have made the PITC irrelevant and redundant.
The bill mandates the DTI to take over the functions of the PITC upon the latter’s abolition.
The measure mandates payment to affected personnel of separation or retirement benefits. Funds transferred to the PITC and which have remained unused would be returned to the source agencies.
Also, Rodriguez’s bill seek the disbandment of PITC as a state-owned corporation, which has been hounded by “issues and controversies, including the transfer of P11 billion from 2014 to 2020 by various source agencies, which funds remained unused as of December 2020.”
“These transfers were made to increase the budget utilization rate of government agencies, as funds transferred to the PITC are considered obligated and disbursed already,” he said in a statement.
He said there are also reports that source agencies are using the interest earnings of billions they turn over to the PITC for bonuses and other emoluments.