INSTEAD OF TRANSFORMING idle properties into revenue generating assets, the government is seriously considering selling infrastructures to raise funds covering the proposed 2026 national budget.
According to Department of Finance Undersecretary Domini Velasquez, the government is targeting to raise up to P105 billion until 2026 from the privatization of idle assets in view of the administration’s bid to generate non-tax revenues.
With only five months left in the current year, Velasquez said that the government may only be able to raise P5 billion. She however remains hopeful that they would be able to hit P100 billion in 2026.
“We also want to utilize non-tax revenue through privatization of, let’s say, some idle assets of the government, not just to increase revenues for the government, but also to add value to this area,” the DOF official was quoted as saying during a forum in Makati City.
‘What we do want is crowding of public investments in infrastructure to crowd in private investment, and what we’ve seen recently, there are a lot of interests.’
PRIVATIZATION
As per data collated from a report released by the Development Budget Coordinating Committee (DBCC), the government would somehow be able to generate P4.520-trillion revenue by the end of 2025 — and P4.983 trillion in 2026.
By DOF’s own admission, 28,665 government non-performing assets have already been turned over to the Privatization Management Office (PMO) for privatization.
On top of the list of assets that would be sold — in the guise of the so-called privatization, are P330-million worth of government assets in NLEX Corp., P820 million receivables from the Nonoc Mining and Industrial Corp., the Elorde Sports and Tourism Development Corp. worth P621 million.
Also considered for privatization are the Food Terminal Inc. valued at P40.46 billion, the Caliraya – Botocan – Kalayaan (CBK) Hydroelectric Power Plants with an aggregate value amounting to P36.26 billion, and SMC SLEX Inc. with an estimated value ranging from P12. to P24.8 billion.
COLLABORATION
Velasquez however stressed that DOF is also looking to collaborate with the private sector for more infrastructure projects under the public-private partnership (PPP) scheme.
“We’re allocating enough budget for infrastructure needs of the Philippines, but also, we’re tapping the private sector to join us in nation building,” she added.
“What we do want is crowding of public investments in infrastructure to crowd in private investment, and what we’ve seen recently, there are a lot of interests.”
According to the Finance official, the government has been receiving quite a number of “unsolicited proposals” which are already under the procurement phase. These include the Boracay Bridge Project, the digitized traffic enforcement for Bacoor City, the digitization of the physical apprehension of the traffic violations under the single ticketing system (STS), the national single window through an integrated facilitation, the operation and maintenance of Palayan City Hospital, the redevelopment of the General Santos City Public Market, and the South Luzon Integrated Terminal Exchange (SLITX).