The Governance Commission for GOCCs (GCG) has shuttered a government-owned and/or -controlled corporation (GOCC) established by former President Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. to design an airplane—but which failed to do so in its 50 years of existence.

In a memorandum order dated May 7, the GCG gave its go-ahead to abolish 244 plantilla positions at the Philippine Aerospace Development Corp. (PADC), which was under the Department of National Defense (DND).

Out of the total plantilla positions, however, only 21 were filled before PADC was closed down.

The abolished filled positions included those for a building electrician, two driver mechanics, a plumber, a mason, two carpenters, a painter, a corporate budget officer, three aircraft maintenance specialists, three aircraft production specialists, a division manager, a marketing specialist, an executive secretary, two senior quality assurance (QA) inspectors, and the company president. These positions' salary grades (SGs) ranged between five and 28, with the highest ranked and paid being PADC's president.

"All employees who may be involuntarily separated from the civil service by reason of the abolition of their positions are entitled to the separation incentive pay (SIP), in addition to retirement or separation benefits under existing laws, provided that the concerned employees have not availed of similar or analogous separation incentive programs from other GOCCs or national government agencies," GCG Memorandum Order No. 2025-11 read.

The GCG board, composed of Chairperson Marius P. Corpus, Commissioners Brian Keith F. Hosaka and Geraldine Marie B. Berberabe-Martinez, as well as Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto and Budget Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman, nonetheless retained seven PADC positions—a skeletal workforce for the liquidation of the five-decade-old state-run firm.

Recto and Pangandaman, who belong to the economic team of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., are ex-officio members of the GCG.

The retained positions included a senior accounting processor, a senior industrial relations management officer, a computer services programmer, a senior cashier, a senior property officer, a driver mechanic, and a senior corporate accountant.

The two-year liquidation process started in April this year and will end in March 2027.

"The Office of the Government Corporate Counsel has confirmed that the corporate existence of PADC [expired] on May 8, 2025, or 50 years after the effectivity of Presidential Decree (PD) No. 696," the GCG said.

The late dictator Marcos Sr.—the father of the current President—had issued PD 286, amended by PD 696, which formed PADC to "undertake business and development activities for the establishment of a reliable aviation and aerospace industry with the Philippines," the GCG noted.

Back in 2017, in the early years of the previous Duterte administration, its chief economic manager, former finance secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III, had already set into motion the abolition of PADC.

"They are supposed to design a plane, [but] it's been 45 years already and they have not designed a plane yet. That's their charter," Dominguez explained in 2017.

Established in 1973, the Pasay City-based PADC also "engages in the design, manufacture, and sale of all forms of aircraft, and also develops local capabilities in the maintenance, repair, and modification of aviation equipment," the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) website noted back then.

In a report published in December last year, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) grouping of rich nations cited that the number of GOCCs in the Philippines dwindled to 118 in 2024 from 158 in 2011 amid closures of loss-making corporations, mergers, and privatizations, citing GCG data.