Star City | Photo from Star City’s website
The government plans to sell the land in Pasay City where the amusement park Star City sits as a part of the Marcos administration’s privatization strategy to boost nontax revenue.
In an interview with the Inquirer, Finance Undersecretary Maria Luwalhati Dorotan Tioseco said one of the state-owned assets to be put up for sale is the Star City property, which spans 34,346 square meters or more than three hectares, with a zonal value of P14 billion as of September last year.
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“It is currently being appraised with an appraisal value of P15 billion, basically ranging from that price,” Chief Privatization Officer Maan Vanessa Doctor told the Inquirer.
Tioseco said that the Privatization Council has not yet finalized the minimum base price for bidding as they wait for other independent appraisals, with the bidding targeted for October.
“We have commissioned the LBP Resources and Development Corp. (LBRDC) as a third party appraiser to value it but we are still waiting for their report,” Doctor said.
Fiscal health
The land where the amusement park is located is currently under a lease agreement with Philippine International Corp., with the lease agreement set to expire in 2026. Star City is owned by Star Parks Corp., a subsidiary of Elizalde Holdings Corp.
The Marcos administration is looking for alternative sources of revenues after Department of Finance Secretary Ralph Recto earlier said that there will be no new taxes during the remaining years of the current administration and would instead improve revenue collection to enhance fiscal health. With that, the government plans to double nontax revenue collections this year to P400 billion.