Govt to tweak guidelines in privatization of assets
TO surpass last year’s gains from selling state assets, the Privatization and Management Office (PMO) is seeking to amend the guidelines of the Privatization Councils (PRC).
Finance Undersecretary for Privatization and Corporate Affairs Catherine L. Fong told reporters last Tuesday the PMO targets to raise more than the P1.2 billion it collected in 2023 from the sale of government assets.
“We have an estimated deficit from revenue collections; so we have a hefty target for this year,” Fong said.
She added that the PMO, an attached agency of the Department of
Finance (DOF), is amending the PRC guidelines on disposition to “make this position easier; because we need to raise a lot of funds.”
The PRC, the policy-making body mandated to oversee the state’s privatization tack, approves all proposed privatization plans prepared by the PMO. It provides final approval for the proposed price and buyer for the assets.
Fong added the PMO is looking into the model used by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) that allows for paying broker’s fees.
“Why not use the real estate companies or anybody who are able to sell; give them some fee?” she mused before reporters.
Fong said the PRC guidelines currently prohibits selling state properties lower than the base price, which is set by two independent appraisals.
She also lamented that getting an appraiser is taking too long. A lot of assets that have been auctioned resulted in failed bidding, she added. Nonetheless, Fong said the PMO is trying to address these hurdles.
The DOF official also noted that a lot of government idle properties have been occupied by informal settlers. It then “makes sense to just sell them to the local government units (LGUS); but the LGUS are only willing to buy them at zonal value,” Fong said.
She said the PMO expects the PMO expects to finish amending the PRC guidelines before March.
Last year, the DOF said the PMO had remitted P1.21 billion to the national treasury in 2023, “exceeding its target 84.6 percent and surpassing performance from 2018 to 2021 in just one year.” In 2022, the PMO was able to raise P1.5 billion from the sale of various government assets, which were mostly real estate properties.
The DOF earlier announced the government expects to dispose this year the Mile Long Complex in Makati City and the Basay Mining Corp. in Negros Oriental province. The proceeds from the sale of the properties were identified by former Finance Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno as possible sources for the Maharlika Investment Fund. (See: https://businessmirror.com. ph/2023/12/18/sale-of-govt-assets-hits-%e2%82%b11-21bviastrong-privatization-push/)