Requesting Entity: Department of Education

Issues Concern: Training Venues from Government Agencies

Details

Whether or not venues/facilities owned/managed by government agencies may be tapped directly for trainings, workshops, and conferences, instead of thru public bidding, on the assumption that these are government agencies.

[T]he prohibition on the use of agency-to-agency agreement by the GPPB per Section 53 (e) of the IRR-A of R.A. 9184 pertains only and specifically to GOCCs incorporated under the Corporation Code and not to any other government agency or corporation created by special law. It is a cardinal rule under statutory construction that where the terms are clear and unambiguous, no interpretation is called for, and the law is applied as written, for application is the first duty of the court, and interpretation, only when literal application is impossible or inadequate.

Thus, should DepEd make a final determination that the venues/facilities owned/managed by government instrumentalities are service agencies which do not fall within the category of a GOCC created and organizaed by virtue of the Corporation Code, then the proscription provided under GPPB Resolution 18-2007 clearly will not apply.