Philpost expects to receive P301-million reimbursement

MANILA, Philippines - The cash-strapped Philippine Postal Corp. (Philpost) expects to reimburse P301 million of its expenses for shouldering the mailing requirements of different government agencies.

“In fairness to the national government, through the initiative of the Department of Budget and Management, they are starting to recognize that being a corporation and having to earn what we spend, especially now in this very, very critical period of the financial situation of Philpost, they are willing to reimburse us for the franking privileges that we are extending to government,” Postmaster General Josie dela Cruz said yesterday. 

She said this might be the first time that Philpost would get reimbursed for shouldering the mailing expenses of the three branches of government – executive, legislative and judiciary. 

Philpost projects its losses to reach P500 million for this year alone. The amount that the national government has promised to give back to Philpost is still P26 million short of Philpost’s actual expenses for the franking privilege.

“At least for us, as far as financial planning goes, if this would be a precedent that every year (they) would do the same, it would enable us to improve our operations because we know that some money would be coming in that we could budget,” Dela Cruz said. 

“We were created as a corporation (but) until now we are not getting a single centavo from the national government yet we are being obliged to provide (franking privileges) and P327 million is not a small amount of money. It actually represents 10 percent of the total revenue of Philpost and this is a losing company and this means a lot to us,” De la Cruz said.

“It’s not an issue of not wanting to do as the law says, but it’s an issue that we can no longer afford to deliver the free service. So without having to violate the law, it is nice that they are providing us some form of subsidy,” she said.

She said even her predecessors had pushed for the lifting of the franking privileges. Former Postmaster General Hector Villanueva earlier said Philpost was losing P200 million yearly for shouldering the postal expenses of different government agencies.