New Philpost head to look into privatizing agency

MANILA, Philippines - New Philpost Postmaster General Josie dela Cruz said yesterday she has been instructed by President Aquino to look into the posibility of privatizing the Philippine Postal Corp.

“Under the law, we could form a new company where the Philpost by its charter can be allowed to sell part of its shares,” Dela Cruz said.

She said the privatization of Philpost would have to be studied further. “Nothing is sure at the moment but that is an option that can be considered,” she said.

Dela Cruz believed that her background in Management Engineering, wherein she graduated as Cum Laude at the Ateneo de Manila University in 1980, makes her capable in exploring a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) for the corporation.

“I am IT (Information and Technology) comfortable. It (Philpost) was left behind because of the internet. Hopefully, as we improve our products and services, we would be in a better shape to enter into a privatization initiative,” the new Postmaster General said.

She said that under her leadership, Philpost would also be geared toward improving its services and revenue collection.

Dela Cruz also said they would assess if Philpost could also enter the lucrative remittance market.

Remittanceas from OFWs reached about P8 billion last year. She said Philpost could reduce the cost for OFWs and improve its services, it could be competitive and mean better business for Philpost and improve its services, it could be competitive with the rates of the private “We have not yet fully tapped this (OFW) market. All I am saying is that these are opportunities that we could explore and hopefully find some money,” she added.

Also, part of her agenda is to improve the benefits and privileges of the 16,000 employees of the Philpost.