Government raises P1 billion from sale of assets

MANILA, Philippines - The government has so far raised P1.090 billion from the sale of state-owned assets this year, still P29 billion short of its privatization goal of P30 billion for 2009, according to the latest data from the Department of Finance (DOF).

The bulk of the privatization income, which came in during the first and third quarters of this year, came from the sale of real estate assets owned by the government.

Of the P1-billion proceeds earned from January to September, the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) remitted P884 million while the Privatization Management Office (PMO) contributed P206 million.

For PCGG, the windfall came in January worth P268 million while the PMO got the bulk of its privatization income in March amounting to P114 million.

The PCGG earned P482 million in dividends from the sequestered shares of the Philippine Telecommunications Investments Corp. (PTIC), which was turned over between January and June 2009.

With only P1 billion earned from privatization so far, the government has to step up efforts to sell big-ticket items to meet its P30-billion revenue goal from the sale of state-owned assets.

The P1-billion proceeds represent only one percent of the total privatization goal this year with barely two months to go.

The government is expecting to earn P30 billion this year by auctioning big-ticket assets including the Food Terminals Inc. (FTI) property in Taguig City for P13 billion, its shares in PNOC-Exploration Corp. for P12 billion and the Fujimi property in Japan for P3 billion to P5 billion.