DOF: Legal issues hinder sale of gov’t assets

MANILA, Philippines–Legal issues have prevented the government from disposing of at least 10 more assets to shore up revenues, a Finance official said on Thursday.

There are some public estates that are occupied by informal settlers, while others have problems with antiquated land titles, Finance Undersecretary Jose Emmanuel P. Reverente, who heads the privatization group of the Department of Finance (DOF).

Several pieces of property turned out to have other claimants as the land titles dated back to the end of the Second World War when the Japanese authorities returned the land they had occupied to the Philippine government, Reverente told reporters on the sidelines of the DOF’s International Tax Forum.

Reverente also cited claimants whose properties were subject to dación en pago. Under Philippine laws, dación en pago is defined as “a special mode of payment whereby the debtor offers another thing to the creditor who accepts it as equivalent of payment of an outstanding obligation.”

Early this year, Reverente said, the government announced that it would dispose of land and mining property to raise at least P6 billion before the end of the Aquino administration in 2016.

The website of the Privatization and Management Office showed that the pieces of property the government wants to bid out are: Elorde Sports and Tourism Development Corp. in Parañaque City; Fil-Eastern Woods Inc. in Quezon City; Far East Starch Corp. in Calamba City, Laguna; Interland Chemicals Inc. in Atimonan, Quezon; Luzon Aggregates Inc. in Norzagaray, Bulacan; Pantranco North Express Inc. in Santiago City, Isabela; Pioneer Glass and Manufacturing Corp. in Rosario, Cavite; Prime White Cement Corp. in San Fernando City, Pampanga; and Leyte Park Hotel Inc. in Tacloban City, Leyte.

Other assets up for auction include Peninsula Development Bank’s property in the provinces of Camarines Norte, Laguna and Quezon.

Since the valuations of the property are already outdated, the DOF is working with the government-run Development Bank of the Philippines as well as Land Bank of the Philippines to determine the worth of the assets, Reverente said.

Despite the legal impediments, DOF continues its market sounding in order to dispose of the assets as soon as it can, he added.