Congress should be the one to decide on the merger of the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) and the Land Bank of the Philippines. The Governance Commission on GOCCs (GCG) should not meddle in the matter. DBP issued this statement  late Wednesday, April 19, as it stands firm on its position that unification of the two financial institutions requires Congressional action. On the role of GCG over the merger plan of the two government-oiwned banks, DBP underscored, "We believe that GCG does not have the authority to decide on or to approve a merger of GOCCs." It added that GCG's powers as defined in Republic Act No. 10149, are "limited to evaluation of performance, determination of relevance of GOCCs, and implementation of mergers." Furthermore, "The merger is unwarranted and ill-timed given the existing socio-economic milieu that necessitates a responsive and progressive development financing institution such as DBP," the statement stressed. Already, DBP has filed an appeal with the Office of the President questioning GCG’s legal study for being legally erroneous, among other grounds. DBP argued that none of the justifications invoked by the Department of Finance (DOF) meets the exclusive standards prescribed by the GCG in justifying a merger. These include relevance and consistency with the national development policy of the State, overlapping or duplicating functions with another GOCC and non-achievement of desired objectives as well as non-generation of “level of social, physical and economic returns vis-à-vis resource inputs”. Other justifications, which do not apply include dormancy or inoperability; GOCC activity can be best performed by the private sector; and functions, purpose or nature of operations of any group of GOCCs necessitates consolidation under a holding company. Among these standards, the closest rationale is the allusion to the elimination of perceived redundancy and inefficiencies in the two banks. However, this is "readily debunked by the reality that DBP and LBP have different mandates". DBP's mandate is to develop industry; Land Bank is agriculture. "Yet, there is no showing of any redundancy and how the proposed merger would effectively address the alleged ‘inefficiencies.’ Meanwhile, legislators are also concerned about the proposed merger. Up to now, issues arising from the recent merging of Landbank and the United Coconut Planters’ Bank remained unresolved, according to Senator Ana Theresia N. Hontiveros-Baraque, who filed resolution No. 570 to investigate the proposed DBP-Land Bank merger. In the case of the UCPB-Land Bank merger, coconut farmer beneficiaries complained it will be more difficult to access support from the coco levy fund, she noted. Also, the Land Bank of the Philippines Employees Association and the DBP Employees’ Union argue that the proposed merger “violated the terms of their Collective Negotiations Agreements” by failing to consult the unions on the merger. “The Land Bank and DBP also carry out separate, distinct, perhaps incompatible mandates,” she reiterated. And banks set up through legislation could only be merged by a law, the Senator argued, citing remarks of former Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III.