Government expects P6-billion revenue from sale of FTI complex

MANILA, Philippines - Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima revealed yesterday that the new administration is expecting about P6 billion in revenues from the sale of the 103-hectare Food Terminals Inc. (FTI) complex in Taguig.

Purisima made the report during the Development Budget Coordinating Committee (DBCC) hearing at the Senate on the proposed P1.645-trillion budget for 2011.  

“The budget contains an item on privatization which is only about P6 billion, which will cover the supposed privatization of FTI,” Finance committee chairman Sen. Franklin Drilon said in a press conference after the budget briefing.

Purisima told the committee that the Department of Finance (DOF) is conducting an ongoing inventory on all departments on possible assets that the government may include in its privatization efforts.

 “We are conducting an ongoing inventory... we have requested all the departments to undertake. We are getting the report. Once we get the inventory we will prioritize the assets that can be sold,” Purisima said.

The FTI property, with 103 hectares of the total 120 hectares up for sale, was bid out middle of last year at P11.9 billion but no takers showed up. The government originally priced the property at P15 billion.

Drilon suggested to the DOF to determine if it can include in its privatization efforts prime government properties such as the Welfareville in Mandaluyong, and National Penitentiary, also known as the New Bilibid Prisons, in Muntinlupa. Welfareville houses the Correctional Institute for Women.

Purisima said plans to sell the NBP and the Welfareville are being discussed with Department of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, adding that the sale would also help the government in urban planning in the metropolis.

Drilon asked the DOF to form a special task force to focus only on plans to move out the national penitentiary out of Metro Manila. He noted that the transfer has been discussed several times in the past administrations and that it would take a strong political will to do it.

 “FTI is also there...these are really very valuable assets that can provide us a bridge financing until you fix the regular income string on your revenues,” Drilon told Purisima during the hearing.

The NBP property has been listed for privatization over the years at a price tag of P10 billion to P11 billion. During the term of former President Corazon Aquino, a portion of the property, or about 104.22 hectares, was carved out for the housing needs of Department of Justice employees and other agencies and is now known as Katarungan Village.

The Welfareville and the NBP properties were lined up for outright sale in August last year but the sale did not push through.

According to Drilon, the two assets are good sources of additional revenue.

At the same time, Drilon urged the DOF to study a mechanism to enable the direct remittance of sales from these private properties to the national treasury.

Drilon noted that the government is also eyeing privatization of the assets of the Bases Conversion Development Authority, Philippine National Construction Corp. (PNCC) and the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS). The proceeds of these sales should go direct to the national coffers, Drilon said.