Gov’t to dispose of P2.5B worth of idle assets — DOF

The Marcos administration has set its sight on over a hundred idle state assets to raise additional revenues to fund its projects.

In his weekly press chat, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said that for the rest of the year, the Privatization Council is “targeting to privatize 137 properties with a total value of P2.5 Billion.”

“The aggressive disposition of non-performing assets will provide much-needed revenues for priority projects,” Diokno said.

“It will also clear the National Government’s books of stagnant assets,” he added.

The Finance chief said that within the first six months of the Marcos administration, the Privatization Council has already approved the final sale of P800 million from the approved P1.9 billion pesos worth of assets for disposition.

“In contrast, the total sales collected from 2019 to 2021 only amounted to P664 million,” he said.

Diokno said that on May 31, the Privatization Council approved the sale of six properties with a total value of P152.8 million.

The Privatization Council is the policy making body mandated to oversee the Philippine government’s privatization program.

It approves all proposed privatization plans prepared by Privatization and Management Office (PMO), and provides final approval for the proposed price and buyer for the assets.

It is a cabinet-level body composed of the Secretary of Finance as chairman, with the Secretaries of Budget and Management, Trade and Industry, National Economic and Development Authority and Justice as members. The National Treasurer and the chairman of the Philippine Commission on Good Government sit in the PrC as non-voting members.

The PMO, on the other hand, is an agency attached under the Department of Finance (DOF) mandated as the marketing arm of the government with respect to transferred-assets, government corporations and other properties assigned to for disposition. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News