A HOUSE panel has declared the Girl Scouts of the Philippines, after 68 years of existence, as a government-owned and -controlled corporation, whose main purpose is to inculcate ?patriotism and nationalism? in youth.

The House committee on government enterprises and privatization has approved for floor deliberation the bill seeking to institute the GSP Charter and stop its privatization.

The bill is now up for plenary debate to hear those who want to push for the privatization of the GSP because the House panel has already rejected its privatization.

Occidental Mindoro Rep. Ma. Amelita Villarosa, the measure?s principal author, said ?GSP?s privatization would lead to the erosion of the special status and support it has uniquely gained for the past 68 years.?

Villarosa said the bill provides that all donations made to the GSP shall be exempt from donor?s tax and shall be deducted from the gross income of the donor for income tax purposes.

It also prohibits the illegal manufacture, sale, distribution and use of the Girls Scouts? uniforms and paraphernalia, she said.

?The Girl Scouts of the Philippines [GSP] is one of the existing organizations in the Philippines today that effectively promotes the objectives embodied in the Constitution,? Villarosa said. Christine F. Herrera