MANILA, Philippines?By rushing to sell government assets, the Presidential Commission on Good Government is acting as the ?overeager used-car salesman? of Malacañang, Senator Joker Arroyo said Friday.

Arroyo pointed out that the PCGG was trying to sell the government's prime property in Tokyo?s Fujimi district worth at least P3 billion and FTI complex in Taguig, among others.

?Why is the administration in a huff?in a mad rush?to sell those assets in the closing months of its incumbency? Why does Malacañang allow the PCGG to go on a selling binge of ill-gotten wealth properties and other government assets? Is it the job description of the PCGG?? asked Arroyo.

Arroyo was obviously unconvinced by PCGG Commissioner Ricardo Abcede who denied on Thursday that the agency was holding a fire sale of government property.

In a phone interview, the senator pointed out that the PCGG was created by the late President Corazon Aquino by virtue of Executive Order No. 1, which empowered it to recover the ill-gotten wealth of the then newly toppled strongman Ferdinand Marcos and his cronies.

?It does not authorize PCGG to be the seller or disposer of government assets, ill-gotten or otherwise,? said Arroyo, who served as executive secretary of Aquino.

?Its job is just to recover. How it will be disposed off is another matter that should be handled by another agency,? he said.

?Why suddenly the PCGG is being used as sales representative of Malacañang. Why oh why? We?re just asking questions. What we seek are answers,? he said.

This fire sale will not be pursued without the ?blessings of the President,? he noted, and concluded: ??The eyes of the present administration are spotting what could be sold before they close shop.?

It was Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. who advised the Arroyo administration on Monday against engaging in any ?midnight sale? of government assets during the remaining months of its term.

He said the fire sale was ?designed more to fatten the pockets of unscrupulous bureaucrats than to replenish and stabilize the public treasury.?

?To make up for its deficiency in tax collections, the Arroyo administration has been selling all kinds of assets, from its shareholdings in Petron and Meralco to military camps or reservations apparently without due regard to the strategic importance of maintaining government stake in these corporate enterprises,? the opposition lawmaker said.

?Out of prudence, the Arroyo government should desist from selling more state assets to allay the apprehensions that such business deals are part of the fund-raising campaign for administration candidates in the 2010 elections,? Pimentel said.

Arroyo pointed to PCGG?s penchant for doing the exact opposite of its duty.

?The PCGG, instead of focusing its energies on marshalling the evidence to successfully prosecute the government cases against the Marcos cronies, has become so distracted, brokering deals and showing undue interest in the sale of crony assets recovered not even by the present PCGG but by the past PCGGs under the likes of Senator Jovito Salonga, Ramon Diaz and Haydee Yorac,? he said.

Only last month, PCGG asked the Supreme Court for permission to convert 20 percent of the San Miguel common shares, claimed by the government and coconut farmers, into preferred shares.

That deal gave tycoon Eduardo ?Danding? Cojuangco, a Marcos crony and the defendant in the case, even greater control and voting rights in San Miguel, said Arroyo.

?By virtue of the share swap arrangement, brokered by PCGG, the government gave to Danding, its adversary in the government case, undisputed control of San Miguel on a silver platter without Danding spending a centavo,? he said.

?The controversial ZTE loan package is P16 billion ($329 million). The San Miguel conversion is four times; it involves roughly P60 billion,? he said.

Ironically, PCGG is the claimant in the case, while the defendant is Cojuangco.

?Is it a last-minute brokerage? Who benefits?? asked Arroyo.

Arroyo explained that compared to common shares, preferred shares have a ?preferred right to the dividends.?

In short, preferred shareholders are first in the pecking order everytime the company earns.

?They are the first to be satisfied before any common shareholder will be given dividends. But preferred shareholders don?t have the power to vote. So the question arises, why is it that they (PCGG officials) are concerned more that it will earn money when their job is to fight Danding to wrest ownership from him?? asked Arroyo.

He lamented that PCGG was busy with the ?business? side of the courtroom battle.