a caboodle of materials: pictures, news, articles, editorials, musings and whathaveyou (whatever) that terence mordeno grana use in his radio show, Katropa sa Kamara ni Terence Mordeno Grana at AFP Radio DWDD (brodkaster43@gmail.com)
posted by brodkaster43 at Martes, Marso 31, 2009
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BY DENNIS GADIL
posted by brodkaster43 at Sabado, Marso 28, 2009
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posted by brodkaster43 at Huwebes, Marso 26, 2009
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BY DENNIS GADIL
The main proponent of imposing tax on mobile phone text messages yesterday reduced by half its proposed tax to only five centavos and even plans to sidestep Congress by just ordering the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to draft its own guidelines imposing a "broad spectrum fee." (more)
posted by brodkaster43 at Miyerkules, Marso 25, 2009
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By DENNIS GADIL
posted by brodkaster43 at Lunes, Marso 23, 2009
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BY DENNIS GADIL
In signing into law the national budget for this year, President Arroyo insulated the Cabinet from congressional "interference" by vetoing a provision requiring the public works and transportation departments to report how funds from the road users’ tax were disbursed...(more)
posted by brodkaster43 at Biyernes, Marso 20, 2009
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BY DENNIS GADIL
The House of Representatives is looking at replacing the oil deregulation law with a "hybrid" version by empowering government to dictate the prices of pump prices of petroleum products and impose controls on oil imports...(more)
posted by brodkaster43 at Biyernes, Marso 20, 2009
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posted by brodkaster43 at Miyerkules, Marso 18, 2009
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BY DENNIS GADIL
(Last of two parts)
Every start of the fiscal year which is January, the President and the inter-agency Development Budget Coordination Council search for possible funding sources and often consult the Privatization and Management Office on which state asset can quickly produce a large sum to narrow the gap between revenues and expenses.
The PMO now has a partial inventory of the assets for auction. Some of the assets are in the internal inventory of state agencies which either own or operate them.
In 2007, government again floated the sale of the New Bilibid Prison property to plug an expected deficit of P75 billion in 2008. The sale did not materialize.
Aside from the NBP, the government also identified the cash-strapped National Food Authority (NFA) as another candidate for privatization. To this day, the NFA continues to bleed government coffers dry. It survives on subsidies.
Under the Arroyo administration, sold or privatized were Manila Gas (to Robinsons Land for P574 million); International School campus (to Century Properties for P1.432 billion); previously Lopez-owned Maynilad Water (to DMIC Holdings-Metro Pacific for $57 million); Initial Public Offering (IPO) of PNOC-Energy Development, P19.12 billion; and the sale of Nampeidai property in Japan for an undisclosed amount.
The old site of the Iloilo airport, which is at least 54 hectares, was also sold for P1.2 billion to property developer Megaworld Corp., which in turn, committed to spend another P1.5 billion to develop the property.
The state-owned Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) also sold in 2006 some P9.56 billion worth of non-performing assets to a unit of US investment bank Lehman Brothers under the Special Purpose Vehicle.
The sale brought down DBP’s non-performing loans to 1.92 percent of total assets from 8.45 percent.
Sold were P5.8 billion in non-performing loans and P3.7 billion in "real and other properties owned or acquired". They are actually foreclosed collaterals.
PROCEEDS IN 2006
The 2006 revenue from privatization according to the Bureau of Treasury (BTr) totaled P119.35 billion, including the treasury’s income.
The amount helped reduce the budget deficit for that year to P62.2 billion, compared with the target maximum of P125 billion.
The Arroyo government also sold its energy assets through the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM), the agency mandated by the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) to privatize the National Power Corporation’s 31 generating assets, 13 independent power producers’ (IPP) contracts, and the Transco concession.
Transco was leased for 25 years at $3.93 billion.
ENERGY ASSETS
The sale of energy assets in 2007 generated $5.99 billion, involving four power plants, along with long-term concession to run the National Transmission Corp. or Transco.
Among those already sold are the: 600-megawatt (mw) Masinloc coal-fired power plant to US-based power giant AES Corp. for $930 million; 600-MW Calaca coal-fired power plant to Franco-Belgian firm Suez-Tractebel for $786.5 million; 60 percent stake of PNOC-EDC, the country’s biggest geothermal power producer, to Lopez-led First Gen. Corp. for P36 billion; and, 100-MW Binga and 75-MW Ambuklao hydroelectric plants to SN Aboitiz Power for $325 M; and, the Transco to Monte Oro Grid Resources for $1.804 billion.
The other power plants up for sale or undergoing bidding are the 192.5-MW Palinpinon geothermal and 110-MW Panay diesel; the decommissioned Manila Thermal plant; the geothermal complex of 275-MW Tiwi and 410-MW Makban; Tongonan geothermal, Bohol diesel, the 150-MW Bacman and 0.8-MW Amlan hydropower plants, the diesel-fired 114-MW Iligan I and II and 620-MW Limay, and the decommissioned Bataan, Aplaya and General Santos plants.
The sale for the Calaca power plant, however, hit a snag last year and would be rebidded. The winning bidder ran into financial trouble and even blamed government for reneging on its commitments under the terms of the sale.
This month, PSALM announced plans to privatize Agus and Pulangi hydro power plants.
The government expects to rake in at least $7 billion more from the sale of the remaining Napocor plants this year.
TELCO, INFRA, UTILITIES
The government likewise finally disposed of the Philippine Telecommunications Investment Corp. (PITC) in 2007 to First Pacific Co. for P25.2 billion.
The PTIC stake translates to a 6.4 percent indirect equity in telecommunications giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT).
State-run Philippine National Construction Corp. (PNCC) was finally transferred to British Virgin Island-based Radstock Securities for P6 billion under a compromise agreement when the privatization of the agency failed.
The sale was controversial since attached to it was the almost P18 billion obligations of the PNCC to Japan’s Marubeni Corp, which belatedly came up during the negotiations.
The amount would be shouldered by government and transferred to Radstock as part of the agreement.
Last year, the government identified for unloading its shares in San Miguel Corp. (SMC) by P50 billion; Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) by P6 billion and sold its Petron shares to British investment group Ashmore by $550 million.
Only the sale of shares of San Miguel did not push through.
The government also announced it was selling the remaining 4.6 percent stake in PNB worth P998 million.
P30 BILLION FOR 2009
Finance Secretary Margarito Teves has said government will likely sell more assets to earn more than the P30 billion it had programmed from privatization in 2009. The privatization target was up from the initial P15 billion to P30 billion after the deficit cap was increased.
Teves cited the government’s 99.78 percent stake in Philippine National Oil Co.-Exploration Corp. (PNOC-EC), which is the oil and gas exploration arm of PNOC.
The government hopes to sell the PNOC unit for at least P10 billion.
It has already sold PNOC’s shipping unit, the PNOC Shipping and Transport Corp (PSTC), for P2.3 billion.
Also included in this year’s auction list are the 120-hectare Food Terminals Inc., (FTI) property in Taguig for at least P10 billion to P15 billion and the government’s real estate property in Fujimi, Japan, where the Philippine embassy holds offices.
The Fujimi property will not be sold outright but would be offered through a long-term lease arrangement.
The state-owned Eastern Telecommunications Philippines Inc was once included in the list of items to be sold in 2008 and 2009 but was recently taken off the list.
Teves was also mum about plans to seriously put the NFA on the auction bloc.
He only said FTI and the PNOC-EC would be sold in the first semester of the year.
Also identified for "continued" privatization are television stations RPN-9 and IBC-13, Al-Amanah Islamic Bank, and Philippine Postal Corp, which could fetch government at least P30 billion.
The BCDA has also lined-up the privatization of what remains of Fort Bonifacio.
To be developed are nine pieces of adjoining properties – six of which are owned by BCDA in Bonifacio South — JUSMAG, SSU, ASCOM, Marines, BNS, and NOVAI — and portions of the Philippine Army (POL depot and dental dispensary), the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA) and consular areas, also in Fort Bonifacio.
At raw, the properties are fetching P20,000 per square meter.
The BCDA would dispose of only the six properties it owns, covering 93 hectares, in a phased development that kicks off with the 35.5-hectare JUSMAG scheduled this year.
The JUSMAG property has so far generated the interest of property giants like Ayala Land Inc., Megaworld Corp., SM Group, Shimao Group of China, and Robinsons Land Corp.
MORE ASSETS
Government sources said there are still big-ticket items that could be readily sold.
It could put the NBP property back on the auction bloc, which could easily fetch at least P100 billion.
Only recently, government, through the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), privatized the Manila North Harbor to a consortium of Harbour Centre and Metro Pacific through a lease agreement worth at least P10 billion.
With a P177.2 billion deficit in the horizon, government is expected to add more "crown jewels" to the "sell" list on top of those already identified for immediate disposal.
But the tragedy is that those already sold and those lined-up for sale are not recurring incomes and would not be around in next coming years to help bail out the next government from future financial strain which is sure to come anyway.
By that time, the joke about selling Rizal Park may no longer be a joke.
posted by brodkaster43 at Huwebes, Marso 12, 2009
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BY DENNIS GADIL
(First of two parts)
Asked to name the remaining government assets that could be sold to help shore up government’s revenues, a ranking cabinet official said in jest they may have to sell Malacañang Palace, the Pasig River, and even Luneta if worse comes to worst.
Luneta, he quipped, might have to go first but the government should first get the consent of Rizal’s kin.
JOKE TELLS IT ALL
The joke essentially sums up the desperation of the present administration to sell all the government’s "jewels" just to contain a widening deficit.
Finance officials have readily said that more state assets would be sold this year but not one of them has identified which ones. Some assets, however, have already been lined-up for auction.
The government was forced to adjust upward its budget deficit ceiling from the original target of P102 billion to P177.2 billion for this year, which could mean more borrowings and disposal of more state-owned assets.
Government sells assets to support the budget, especially since revenue targets are always not enough.
P194 BILLION IN AQUINO’S TIME
Since the first wave of privatization commenced during the time of President Aquino, 466 state-owned assets have been sold with total proceeds reaching P194 billion.
In 1991 alone or five years after the creation of the Asset Privatization Trust (APT), the body tasked to carry out the privatization efforts, the Aquino government sold 230 assets with net proceeds of P14.3 billion.
Another 74 public sector enterprises that were created with direct government investment were put up for sale while 57 enterprises were sold wholly or in part for P6 billion.
Since 2000, the gross receipts from the privatization effort were as follows: Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA), P39.2 billion; sequestered properties under the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), P25.5 billion; Government-Owned and Controlled Corporations (GOCCs), P78.6 billion; and non-performing assets (NPAs), P47 billion.
All in all, the privatization proceeds since 2000 have come up to P1.903 trillion, more than enough to cover the government’s funding requirements for 2009, which is pegged at P1.415 trillion.
INEFFICIENT ENTERPRISES
The first seeds of privatization, however, started in the last two years of the Marcos presidency when the government could no longer pay its international creditors because of the proliferation of inefficient and unprofitable public sector enterprises, which bloated the foreign debt to $28 billion.
Marcos, to please the World Bank, issued Presidential Decrees 2029 and 2030, which paved the way for the elimination of inefficient state-owned enterprises and declared a policy of privatization.
The privatization failed to take off as Marcos was toppled by People Power in 1986.
The Cory government then declared that it was continuing the privatization effort to raise revenues for the almost bankrupt state coffers, thereby also signifying to WB that it was honoring debts incurred during the Marcos regime.
The APT and the Committee on Privatization (COP) created under Cory’s Proclamation 50 as amended by R.A. 8758 was tasked to dispose of losing and debt-ridden state properties but this function was usurped over the years by new bodies created by succeeding governments.
PRIVATIZATION BINGE
Bulk of the privatization activities involving big-ticket items took place during the time of President Ramos.
Under Ramos’ watch, the 160-hectare Fort Bonifacio property was sold for P34 billion to the Metro Pacific consortium, which later sold to a Ayala-led group in 2003.
Early on, the ownership of the Philippine Air Lines (PAL), the country’s flagship airline, changed hands and landed on the lap of beer and tobacco magnate Lucio Tan who submitted a winning bid of P9.65 billion for a 67 percent stake in the airline.
Camp John Hay was also privatized in 1994 with property developer Fil-Estate as winning bidder under a long-term lease agreement, which would earn government an estimated P50 million a year in rentals.
Fil-Estate recently took in a strategic partner, Ayala Land, to help it pay its rental obligations, which have grown to about P2.3 billion since 2005.
The privatization of Camp John Hay ran into major hitches after the Supreme Court in 2003 rescinded the tax benefits granted by President Ramos to the leisure complex, affecting Fil-Estate’s income.
In 1995, the government put the cash-strapped National Steel Corp. (NSC) on the auction block and brought in the Malaysians as investors.
NSC is 82.5 percent-owned by two Malaysian companies -- Hottick Ltd., and a subsidiary of Renong Berhad, the investment company of the Malaysian government.
Hottick and the Renong Berhad subsidiary, however, have gone bankrupt and have been taken over by the Malaysian government’s asset privatization entity, which is now the owner of NSC.
The government and the Malaysian government are now discussing how to make the NSC profitable to meet its more than P15-billion debt.
WATER, HOTEL, MEDIA
Splitting the concession into two in August 1997, government also privatized the country’s water sector under the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS).
The Ayala-led consortium, Manila Water Company Inc. (MWCI) was awarded the East Zone concession; while the Lopez-led consortium, Maynilad Water Services Inc. (MWSI), took over the West Zone concession.
Maynilad, however, had to abandon the 25-year concession five years after it faced mounting dollar-denominated debts that it inherited from MWSS.
State-owned Manila Hotel was also put in the auction block in 1997 with the Malaysians winning the bid for the hotel’s 15,300,000 shares or 51 percent ownership.
The Malaysians, however, were booted out after the Supreme Court ruled that the hotel, being part of national patrimony, could not be sold to foreigners.
Businessman Emilio Yap who runs the Manila Bulletin now controls Manila Hotel.
LIFE UNDER ERAP
Under the short-lived presidency of Joseph Estrada, the focus shifted to privatizing sequestered media companies like the IBC-13, RPN-9 and the Journal Group which publishes the People’s Journal, People’s Tonight, Taliba and Women’s Tonight.
The privatization did not take off as previous owners succeeded in wresting control of the media firms as in the case of the Journal Group. IBC-13 and RPN-9, on the other hand, continue to scout for a good buyer.
IBC-13 was almost sold in 1996, when the PCGG put it up for sale at a P2 billion floor price.
But the network’s ex-general manager Jose Jalandoon went to court laying claim to 20 percent of the shares.
THE END OF APT
Estrada issued Executive Order 323 creating the inter-agency Privatization Council and the Privatization Management Office (PMO) as the corporate life of APT was about to come to an end in 2000. The PMO, which acted as the privatization arm of the Privatization Council, officially replaced the APT.
Estrada’s EO directed the Privatization Council’s PMO to take over and oversee the privatization program of the government.
He also ordered the APT to surrender all the assets it had accumulated and identified for sale to the national government or back to the state agency concerned.
The corporate demise of APT practically threw the privatization process into confusion as state agencies involved in the privatization effort adopted different and separate directions.
Former APT chair Gonzalo T. Santos Jr. noted: "In the Philippines, 11 different government entities have a hand in the privatization process. The result, inevitably, is a lack of uniformity in approach. The Cabinet-level Committee on Privatization oversees the process but, by itself, can neither undertake the marketing of assets nor negotiate sales."
Even with the shift to the PMO, the same problem existed.
OVERDRIVE
Also during Estrada’s reign, a move snowballed in Congress for government to privatize the state-owned Philippine Phosphate Fertilizer Corp. (Philphos), the country’s main producer of chemical fertilizer.
Congressmen urged Estrada to fast-track the privatization, starting with the sale of 50 percent of Philphos to private buyers to reduce its $40 billion debt. Philphos remains state-owned.
The "fire sale" of more big-ticket assets, however, went into overdrive when President Arroyo assumed office in 2001.
The country’s premier bank, the Philippine National Bank (PNB) was fully privatized in 2005 after tycoon Lucio Tan completed his acquisition of the bank by buying the remaining 12 percent stake of the government at P43.77 a share worth about P3.1 billion.
Tan’s purchase of the remaining PNB shares brought his shareholdings to 77 percent.
That year in 2005, government earned a total of P8.3 billion in the sale of non-energy assets such as the two properties in Japan and its stake in the PNB.
JAPAN PROPERTIES
The two Japan properties were part of the parcels of lands that the government had been trying to dispose of as early as 2003. Two properties are in Tokyo and while the other two are in Kobe.
The government projected earnings from rental and leasing fees of the properties were placed at $576.9 million during a 20-year period.
The Supreme Court prevented the Cory government earlier from disposing its Roppongi property in Japan in late 1980s.
The 3,179-square-meter Roppongi property is one of four parcels of land acquired by Manila in 1958 as part of the Japanese indemnity for Philippine loss of life and property during World War II.
State-owned Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) also sold P9.56 billion worth of bad assets to a unit of US investment bank Lehman Brothers under the Special Purpose Vehicle framework in 2006.
The sale brought down DBP’s non-performing assets to 1.92 percent of total assets from 8.45 percent.
Sold were P5.8 billion in non-performing loans and P3.7 billion in "real and other properties owned or acquired" -- mainly foreclosed assets.
NBP FOR SALE
Government also tried to duplicate its windfall from the sale of Fort Bonifacio by putting up the 550-hectare New Bilibid Prisons (NBP) property for sale with a possible asking price of P110 billion.
The prison facility shares a wall with the posh Ayala Alabang Village where property prices currently stand at P17, 000 to P20,000 per meter; the property will likely fetch P93.5 billion to P110 billion.
The plan to sell the NBP property, however, ran into delays as the government dilly-dallied in looking for a transfer site for inmates of the prison facility.
posted by brodkaster43 at Miyerkules, Marso 11, 2009
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BY DENNIS GADIL
The government has deferred its "road show" this week for the global bond offering of state-owned Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM) because of "not so good" market conditions...(more)
posted by brodkaster43 at Martes, Marso 10, 2009
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BY DENNIS GADIL
Prospective car buyers under a budget just have to log on to the Internet and click their mouse away if they like a vehicle that’s being offered for sale by Auction Manila, the newest auctioneer to enter the second-hand car market...(more)
posted by brodkaster43 at Martes, Marso 10, 2009
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posted by brodkaster43 at Miyerkules, Marso 04, 2009
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BY DENNIS GADIL
A senior finance official yesterday insisted that the Swiss proponent behind the technology using tamper-proof strip stamps for cigarette imports to curb smuggling should participate in government bidding for such a project...(more)
posted by brodkaster43 at Miyerkules, Marso 04, 2009
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BY DENNIS GADIL
The government expects a better year for the economy in 2010 as it hopes to bring down this year’s budget deficit of P177.2 billion to only 1.5 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) or roughly P132.1 billion by 2010...(more)
posted by brodkaster43 at Martes, Marso 03, 2009
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posted by brodkaster43 at Lunes, Marso 02, 2009
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