Payanig property value plummets by 73%

MANILA, Philippines - The value of the government-owned 18.5-hectare Payanig sa Pasig property has plunged by as much as 73 percent despite the continued development of the Ortigas business district in Pasig City, a Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) official said recently.

Ricardo Abcede, PCGG commissioner for litigation, said the latest appraisal placed the property’s fair market value at P5 billion to P7 billion, compared to its appraised value of P15 to 18 billion in 2004.

“Its value was high before but they did not consider its entanglements. Now, we have these problems,” Abcede said in a press conference last week at the PCGG head office in Mandaluyong City.

Abcede said the problems were mainly “legal entanglements” involving various claims made by different groups on the property, led by the Ortigas family who claim they were coerced by the late deposed president Ferdinand Marcos to sell him the property at a giveaway price.

Abcede said the PCGG was waiting for the results of a third appraisal of the property.

He admitted that most of the tenants who leased portions of the property in 2003 and 2004 have proved to be delinquent in their lease payments, causing additional problems for the PCGG.