PCGG: Gov’t lost P1-B rent income from Payanig sa Pasig property

MANILA, Philippines - The government failed to realize more than P1 billion in revenue from renting out its 18.5-hectare Payanig sa Pasig property due to illegal occupants and claimants over major sections of the property during the past five years, the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) said yesterday.

Dean Andres Bautista, PCGG chairman, the continuing loss of potential revenue is the primary motivation for the agency’s campaign to finally collect rental payment and eject illegal occupants this year.

From five groups reportedly illegally occupying different portions of the property, only Westpoint Development Corp., which operates the Ortigas Home Depot Complex at the J. Vargas side of the property, pays rent to the PCGG-controlled Mid Pasig Land Development Corp. (MPLDC), Bautista said.

He hopes that the Malacanang memorandum issued by Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. on Oct. 23, 2012 addressed to the heads of the Department of Interior and Local Governments (DILG), the Department of Justice, the Department of Finance and the Office of the Solicitor General will push these agencies to help the PCGG eject squatters and collect rental payments.

Bautista noted that the DILG’s cooperation is crucial since the Philippine National Police, which is under the DILG, would be a big boon to any PCGG move to eject delinquent lessers and a group claiming ownership over a 16-hectare portion of the 18.5-hectare property.

The DILG is also expected to help stop a reported bid of the Pasig City government to auction off the property to settle delinquent real estate property taxes.

Government ownership of the Payanig is based on its ownership of the MPLDC, one of the real estate holding firms under the Independent Realty Group (IRC) Group of Companies surrendered by self-confessed Marcos crony Jose Yao Campos to the PCGG under a compromise agreement signed in 1987 with then PCGG chairman Jovito Salonga.

Under the compromise agreement, Campos surrendered the IRC and its subsidiary companies and other assets he said he held in trust in behalf of the late deposed President Ferdinand Marcos.

Bautista said the minimum value of the Payanig property was estimated between P10.5 billion to P13.5 billion.

A private firm, Blemp Commercial, led by Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis “Chavit” Singson, is claiming to own a 16-hectare portion of the property by virtue of a joint venture he formed with Benedicto Parchamento and Estrelita Marinas. The two reportedly bought the property from Campos in the 1970s without Marcos’ knowledge.

Blemp Commercial is allegedly collecting rent from Payanig’s occupants, Bautista said.