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Manila Bulletin devider Business devider Trade & Industry devider GCG finally shutters state-owned gold mine operator dormant for 40 years

GCG finally shutters state-owned gold mine operator dormant for 40 years

Published Jan 2, 2026 02:46 pm
A gold mine that ceased operations 40 years ago officially ended its status as a state-owned corporation before 2025 ended.
The Governance Commission for GOCCs (GCG) finally classified Batong Buhay Gold Mines Inc. (BBGMI) as “inactive/non-operational” through a memorandum order (MO) issued on Sept. 9, 2025, a document on the GCG’s website showed.
According to the GCG, BBGMI used to operate an underground gold mine with a 300-tons-per-day capacity mill in the municipality of Pasil, Kalinga province.
“BBGMI ceased operations in November 1985 due to the destruction of its power lines, first by dissidents, and secondly by Typhoon ‘Kuring.’ The lack of working capital and funds to restore the power lines prevented BBGMI from resuming commercial operations,” the GCG said.
“BBGMI has remained non-operational since its closure in 1985, and has not been compliant with the SEC [Securities and Exchange Commission’s] reportorial requirements since 2011,” it added.
Despite ceasing operations in 1985, BBGMI was acquired by the national government (NG) through Proclamation No. 50 dated Dec. 8, 1986, at the beginning of the Corazon C. Aquino administration.
As of end-2024, BBGMI had been classified as a government-owned and/or -controlled corporation (GOCC) by the GCG, belonging to the energy and materials sector.
However, the SEC in February 2024 suspended BBGMI’s certificate of registration for failure to submit general information sheets (GIS) and financial statements (FS) for over five years.
As such, the GCG reclassified BBGMI as non-operational/inactive/deactivated, under the watch of GCG Chairperson Marius P. Corpus.
Manila Bulletin reported last year that the GCG had also shuttered a 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 May 2025, the GCG abolished 244 plantilla positions at 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 two-year liquidation process for PADC started in April 2025 and will end in March 2027. Its remaining assets will be liquidated to settle separation benefit liabilities.
“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,” according to the GCG.
The late dictator Marcos Sr.—the father of current President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.—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 in the Philippines,” the GCG had noted.
Back in 2017, in the early years of the Rodrigo R. 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, 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 at the time.
On its website, PADC said that among its achievements was its contribution to the domestic aviation industry through aircraft assembly, engine maintenance, and parts manufacturing.
According to PADC, it had assembled 44 BO-105 helicopters, 67 BN Islanders, 18 SF 260 TP trainer aircraft, 24 S-211 jet trainers, and eight Lancair aircraft through licensing and joint ventures (JVs) with foreign manufacturers from England, Germany, and Italy.
PADC had also operated an engine overhaul center, completed military engine overhauls, and produced aircraft components for export.
In a 2024 report, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) cited that the number of GOCCs in the Philippines dwindled to 118 that year from 158 in 2011, amid the closure of loss-making corporations, mergers, and privatizations, citing GCG data.
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