The government is looking to double the sale of state assets this year, as it also eyes to offer mining rights with Basay mines first on the list.
Meanwhile, the long-planned privatization of state-run casinos may finally push through in the next year or two.
Catherine Fong, Finance undersecretary for the Department of Finance’s (DOF) Privatization and Corporate Affairs Group, said in a press conference late Friday the government intends to sell more of its assets this year.
“Last year we sold something like P1.5 billion in assets. But there’s still a lot under the ownership of government under the Privatization Management Office (PMO) that we’re intending to roll out faster,” she said.
“We’re aiming for higher than last year. Definitely double that or at least higher. Mostly real estate properties,” she added.
Fong said that she’s referring to just PMO properties, although there’s still a lot of government assets for disposition.
“There’s Mile Long we want to auction. Then we’re hoping to sell this year or next year some mining rights still owned by the government,” Fong said.
Fong was referring to the 2.2-hectare Mile Long property in Makati City.
Fong said what is hindering the government from auctioning its mining rights is the need to verify the contents of the mines, and there is a need to update the valuation.
“We’re having the valuation done, but definitely there is a lot of interest. We’re being assisted right now by the German government, and we’ve also received offers from the US government and Australian government to assist us in assessing the value of the mines and to help us in packaging it for auction, so definitely there’s a lot of local and foreign interest once we’re ready to auction the mines,” she said.
“We have four, but some are still under litigation, so we’re not prepared to auction it out yet, but at least one already has a clean title, so we’re going with that first, but we’re still in the process of validating the actual value,” she added.
Fong was referring to the Basay mines.
“We’re looking at not just auctioning it outright, we’re asking development partners to assist us… we’re trying to get assistance on the modern good practices in the mining industry on how to sell it. We’re trying to package it in a more responsible way,” she said.
As for the disposal of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor)’s own gaming operations, Fong said the Pagcor Board is on board with the plan.
“They’re supportive, but of course we have to take care of the employees who will be affected, so there’s a plan to do that. According to the chairman, he’s just asking for a little bit of time, maybe a year or two to settle, to take care of the employees who will be displaced, but yes the board is supportive,” she said.
“The policy of the government is to separate the regulatory powers from the proprietary powers, but of course there are employees to consider, so it’s not gonna be that immediate,” she added.
In previous reports in 2017, about 17 casinos that are purely operated by Pagcor were supposed to be the first ones to be privatized.
In 2020, the DOF was also eyeing to privatize the gaming operations of Pagcor and the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office to generate additional revenues to help repay the debts incurred on the new corona virus 2019 response. The said plans did not materialize.
