Boy Scouts of the Philippines vs.

Commission on
Audit, G.R. No. 177131. June 7, 2011.
Post under Political Law at Sunday, October 16, 2011 Posted by Schizophrenic Mind

Commission on Audit;
Boy Scouts. (J. Abad)

jurisdiction

over

The issue was whether or not the Boy Scouts of the

Philippines (BSP) fall under the jurisdiction of
the Commission on Audit. The BSP contends that it is not
a government-owned or controlled corporation; neither is it
an instrumentality, agency, or subdivision of the
government. The Supreme Court, however, held that not
all corporations, which are not government owned or
controlled, are ipso facto to be considered private
corporations as there exists another distinct class of
corporations or chartered institutions which are otherwise
known as public corporations. These corporations are
treated by law as agencies or instrumentalities of the
government which are not subject to the tests of
ownership or control and economic viability but to a
different criteria relating to their public purposes/interests
or constitutional policies and objectives and their
administrative relationship to the government or any of its
departments or offices. As presently constituted, the BSP
is a public corporation created by law for a public purpose,
attached to the Department of Education Culture and
Sports pursuant to its Charter and the Administrative Code
of 1987. It is not a private corporation which is required to
be owned or controlled by the government and be
economically viable to justify its existence under a special
law. The economic viability test would only apply if the

corporation is engaged in some economic activity or

business function for the government, which is not the
case for BSP. Therefore, being a public corporation, the
funds of the BSP fall under the jurisdiction of
the Commission on Audit.