Government eyes sale of FTI, PNOC-EC by 3rd quarter

MANILA, Philippines - The government is eyeing to sell two big-ticket items in its privatization list by the third quarter of the year as it is still firming up details on the mode of disposal.

Finance Undersecretary Crisanta Legaspi said the sale of Food Terminals Inc. (FTI) and Philippine National Oil Co.-Exploration Corp. would be finalized after the first half of the year.

FTI is a 120-hectare agro-industrial commercial estate in Taguig. It was originally built as a food processing and consolidation center for agricultural products. It houses more than 300 small-to-medium scale companies engaged in different industries such as manufacturing, garments and electronics.

PNOC-EC is the upstream oil and gas subsidiary of state-owned PNOC. It is also into coal development, production and trading.

Legaspi said that for FTI, the Privatization Management Office (PMO) is now finalizing the mode of sale or the type of disposal for the property. She said PMO is expected to have a decision on the matter by this month.

The Finance department is likewise finalizing the sale for the PNOC-EC property, she added.

Earlier, the government was looking at selling the PNOC-EC property in the first half of the year but officials said due to poor market conditions, it would be better to sell the asset this year.

Last year, the government successfully sold to the Ashmore Group, a London-listed fund manager, its 40 percent stake in oil refiner Petron Corp. for P25.7 billion.

For this year, the government expects a budget deficit of P177.2 billion, revised from an earlier ceiling of P102 billion.