Privatizing shares in SMC, PNOC, PAL
The first "wave" of privatization in the Philippines was in 1987, during the time of Pres. Cory Aquino and after the downfall of the Marcos' 20 years government in 1986. A number of government enterprises; private enterprises transferred to the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), Phil. National Bank (PNB) and National Development Co. (NDC); as well as enterprises owned by Marcos cronies and sequestered by the PCGG under Pres. Cory, were sold.
Exactly 2 decades after, a number of sequestered assets, like government shares in San Miguel Corp. (SMC), Phil. National Oil Co.-Energy Development Corp. (PNOC-EDC), Manila Electric Co. (MERALCO), were never privatized at all. Usually, friends and cronies of the country's Presidents sat in the board of these big corporations as "government representatives".
Now the Department of Finance (DOF) is pressed to find more money to fill the budget deficit this year. Government shares of the above-mentioned big private corporations, as well as other private enterprises, have been planned for privatization over the past few years. Seems that government is becoming more desperate and will really be compelled to let go of its interests in these big companies.
Projected revenues or proceeds from privatizating government shares in the following are:
1. SMC, P50 billion
2. PNOC-EDC, P36 B (P17 B sold last week)
3. Meralco, P6-10 B
4. PNB, P1 B
5. Iloilo City airport, P1 B
6. land property in Tokyo (Fujimi Kudan), P3 B.
If not for cronyism, these and several dozen other assets should have been privatized many years ago, the proceeds used to pay and retire many domestic and foreign debts. Once these public debts are significatly reduced, then government payment in both principal amortization (not included in total budget appropriation) and interest payment (included in budget appropriation) would have gone down since many years ago.
A big portion of the annual deficit is caused by fiscal bleeding to pay high interest payment, taking up to nearly 1/3 of the total annual budget.
Privatizing government shares in those and other assets is a policy move that should have been done yesterday. The bleeding in the pockets of Filipino taxpayers to pay those big public debts, a big bureaucracy and big pork barrels, is a serious crime that only callous politicians and bureaucrats cannot afford to feel.
Exactly 2 decades after, a number of sequestered assets, like government shares in San Miguel Corp. (SMC), Phil. National Oil Co.-Energy Development Corp. (PNOC-EDC), Manila Electric Co. (MERALCO), were never privatized at all. Usually, friends and cronies of the country's Presidents sat in the board of these big corporations as "government representatives".
Now the Department of Finance (DOF) is pressed to find more money to fill the budget deficit this year. Government shares of the above-mentioned big private corporations, as well as other private enterprises, have been planned for privatization over the past few years. Seems that government is becoming more desperate and will really be compelled to let go of its interests in these big companies.
Projected revenues or proceeds from privatizating government shares in the following are:
1. SMC, P50 billion
2. PNOC-EDC, P36 B (P17 B sold last week)
3. Meralco, P6-10 B
4. PNB, P1 B
5. Iloilo City airport, P1 B
6. land property in Tokyo (Fujimi Kudan), P3 B.
If not for cronyism, these and several dozen other assets should have been privatized many years ago, the proceeds used to pay and retire many domestic and foreign debts. Once these public debts are significatly reduced, then government payment in both principal amortization (not included in total budget appropriation) and interest payment (included in budget appropriation) would have gone down since many years ago.
A big portion of the annual deficit is caused by fiscal bleeding to pay high interest payment, taking up to nearly 1/3 of the total annual budget.
Privatizing government shares in those and other assets is a policy move that should have been done yesterday. The bleeding in the pockets of Filipino taxpayers to pay those big public debts, a big bureaucracy and big pork barrels, is a serious crime that only callous politicians and bureaucrats cannot afford to feel.
posted by Bienvenido Oplas Jr | 9:11 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home