Palace: IBC-13 sale not a midnight deal, no sched for public bidding yet

Malacañang on Tuesday denied that the sale of the Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation (IBC-3) was a midnight deal of the Duterte administration.

At a Palace briefing, acting presidential spokesperson Martin Andanar quoted IBC-13 President and CEO Hexilon Alvarez’s response on the issue.

“There is no midnight deal here. It is a mandate of the Duterte administration to rehab the government TV station since Day 1. First time in the history since 1986 to privatize the television network,” he said.

Andanar was asked if the sale was a midnight deal considering its public bidding was set two months before the end of the Duterte administration.

He clarified that a public bidding had not yet been scheduled.

The Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) had announced that the privatization of IBC-13 would begin in October 2017.

Andanar, who also was the PCCO secretary, said his office was looking to put IBC-13 up for bidding at an estimated price of P4.2 billion.

He added that the bulk of the proceeds from the sale of the state-run broadcasting company would be allocated for the "revitalization" of the People's Broadcasting Corp. — DVM, GMA News