Only 70% of prison property to be sold

The Department of Finance (DOF) said yesterday the National Bilibid Prisons reservation is the biggest item in the government’s asset portfolio, but only 70 percent of the property can be sold to interested investors.

Finance Secretary Jose Isidro Camacho told reporters that none of the government assets still in the line-up for privatization was nearly as big as the 550-hectare prime land in Muntinlupa.

"Not even the Food Terminal Inc. property comes close to the size of that property," Camacho said.

Initial estimates indicate that based on the prevailing price in the adjacent Ayala Alabang Village, the NPB property could generate as much as P110 billion for the government even if sold in the prevailing property market slump.

However, Camacho said the DOF had more or less conceded the fact that only about 70 percent of the property could be sold since a portion of the reservation had already been set aside by the Department of Justice as a housing site for its employees.

The NBP property is under the DOJ’s Bureau of Prisons and Corrections which earlier chopped off about 50 hectares from the reservation. The portion was developed into a low-cost residential subdivision and the lots were sold to DOJ employees.

Camacho said the privatization committee is in the midst of making the decision on how to proceed with the privatization of the reservation with first step having the property appraised to determine its value.

With the bulk of government’s prime assets tied up in various legal tangles, President Arroyo has ordered the immediate privatization of the 550-hectare NBP reservation to raise badly needed funds.

The DOF and the DOJ have been directed to draw up a privatization for the property tagged as the biggest government sale since Fort Bonifacio and Camp John Hay.

Finance Undersecretary Eric Recto said that the government’s privatization committee is scheduled to meet this week and the sale of the NBP reservation is being tabled for discussion to determine how the property would be disposed.

"We don’t really know what to do with it yet but offhand, I think the property should be sold outright," Recto said. "Government should not really be in the business of property development which is better done by the private sector anyway."

Located south of Alabang proper, the sprawling 550-hectare reservation has been earmarked for privatization since the 1980s but no progress has been made towards the sale of the property to any developer.

Currently housing over 15,000 inmates, prison employees and their families, the reservation is adjacent to the posh Ayala Alabang Village and has been developed to support the prisons complex, with an existing road network, golf course facilities and schools.

Aside from the maximum, medium and minimum security prison compounds, the reservation also has an elementary and high school as well as the Muntinlupa Polytechnic College owned by the city government.

When it was first lined up for privatization, the NBP reservation attracted several groups of mostly Japanese investors who wanted to develop the property into a golf course and recreational facility.

Local officials unaware of plan

Meanwhile, Muntinlupa City Mayor Jaime Fresnedi and Congressman Ruffy Biazon said the local government should be consulted in the National Government’s plan to sell the New Bilibid Prisons (NBP) reservation.

In separate interviews, the two officials said they both learned about the plan only from The STAR report published last Monday, catching them both by surprise.

"We were not informed about this. During our discussion with MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando last year, there was no hint (that) the National Government plans to sell the property," Fresnedi told The STAR in a phone interview yesterday.

Fresnedi said Fernando was appointed by Malacañang to head the development plan of the NBP reservation, which has been ordered privatized last year by President Arroyo.

For his part, Biazon emphasized that the National Government "should include the plans of the city government" for the development of the NBP.

"Supposedly, the local government should have a representative in the (national) government’s privatization committee. The plans of the city government for the area should be taken into consideration," Biazon said in a phone interview late Monday afternoon.

Fresnedi said he was not informed of the committee’s scheduled meeting this week.

And even if the Department of Justice (DOJ) owns the NBP property, Fresnedi explained a consultation with the local government for its development is a "prerequisite," as stated in the Local Government Code.

Fresnedi said he "advised the city council to pass a resolution inquiring about the issue" immediately after reading The STAR report. – With Nikko Dizon