End-April privatization proceeds down 97%

As the government prepares to sell mining assets to augment the bigger pandemic-response budgets and repayments for its ballooning debts, privatization proceeds fell 97 percent year-on-year to only P8.19 million during the first four months as April yielded no revenues.

The latest Bureau of the Treasury data showed revenues from privatization slid from P321.63 million a year ago.

Between the two agencies in charge in the disposal of idle government assets, only the Department of Finance-attached Privatization and Management Office (PMO) generated revenues from January to April.

The PMO’s end-April take included P7.83 million in lease rental plus about P360,000 in sales. Still, the four-month total was lower than the P260.86 million last year.

Delayed

During the month of April alone, or when the National Capital Region and neighboring provinces reverted to the most stringent quarantine levels to contain surging COVID-19 cases, the PMO did not generate any. In the same month last year, revenue was at P195.02 million.

Chief Privatization Officer Gerard Chan of the PMO has yet to comment on the latest data.

Last year, Chan told the Inquirer that lockdown restrictions had delayed the remittance process of privatization proceeds, or those generated from sales, lease rental, interest income and other income like dividends from shares in corporations.

Generated P60.77M

Meanwhile, the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), which had been tasked to recover ill-gotten wealth by former president Ferdinand Marcos, his family and cronies, was unable to dispose of any recovered assets as of April.

In contrast, the PCGG during the first four months of last year generated P60.77 million in privatization proceeds.

For the entire 2020, proceeds totaled P475.1 million, down 46 percent from 2019’s P882 million.

Each year from 2020 to 2022, the government is targeting P500 million in privatization proceeds.

Last month, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said the PMO would soon sell a couple of mining assets to fund the larger budget-deficit program amounting to P1.86 trillion this year. The deficit is equivalent to 9.4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).The Inquirer reported last month that the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) planned to dispose of two mining assets: North Davao Mining Corp.’s mine in Davao del Norte and that of Pacific Nickel Philippines Inc. in Surigao del Norte. The MGB had estimated these two mines could raise up to P17 billion. INQ