The state-run Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) has reduced its financial obligations by P182.8 billion so far during the Duterte administration, the Department of Finance (DOF) said on Friday.
Irene Joy Besido Garcia, president and chief executive of PSALM, recently reported to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III that their financial dues fell from P537.9 billion in mid-2016 to P355.2 billion as of end-2021.
“We expect to further improve on this by targeting to further bring it down to about P335.9 billion before President Duterte leaves office in end-June this year,” Garcia told Dominguez, who chairs the PSALM board.
In all, a total of P202 billion will be slashed from PSALM’s financial obligations by the time Mr. Duterte steps down, Garcia said.
“Last year, PSALM was able to successfully reduce its financial obligations by P26.5 billion—paying off P4.1 billion in debts and P22.4 billion in lease obligations due to independent power producers— from P381.7 billion as of end-2020,” she said.
“PSALM’s total revenues in 2021 from its service and business income; shares, donations, grants; and gains amounted to P79.5 billion, which is higher by 27 percent from the P62.4 billion revenues it recorded at the end of 2020,” she added.
Garcia said PSALM also tempered the increase in its operating expenses to only 2 percent, while “overhead expenses accounted for less than 5 percent of the its total income as the corporation was able to implement substantial cost cutting measures, while increasing revenue collection through successful privatization activities and higher energy sales.”
“All these strategies led PSALM to yield a net surplus of P8.9 billion in 2021, up by P6.7 billion or 293 percent increase from its net surplus of P2.3 billion in 2020,” Garcia said.