MANILA, Philippines—Despite a senator’s warning about the “midnight sale” of government assets during the remaining months of the Arroyo administration, the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) will proceed with its plans to auction this month P300-million worth of property recovered from the Marcoses and their cronies.
PCGG Commissioner Ricardo Abcede said Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. had nothing to worry about because the sale of the assets would go through a thorough review process.
“There is no midnight sale or fire sale of government assets and the senator may hit the bed and sleep well. It takes an unusually long time to sell government properties,” Abcede said at a press conference.
Pimentel on Monday said that the privatization could fatten the campaign war chest of the administration for the 2010 general elections.
He specifically questioned Malacańang on its plans for the government-owned prime property in Tokyo’s Fujimi district, which houses the residence of the Philippine ambassador to Japan. The government could earn P3 billion from the property, according to the finance department.
The senator said the Arroyo administration had been selling all kinds of assets from holdings in Petron and Meralco to military camps or reservations without regard to their strategic importance to make up for its shortfall in tax collection.
Abcede disputed Pimentel’s claim that the administration was selling government assets to fund its war chest for the elections.
“There is no truth to the tale that we are hurrying these up for the elections. We don’t factor that in. We look at these scientifically,” he said.
Baclaran property
Among the PCGG assets to be sold are the RC Mapalad property on Roxas Boulevard in Baclaran, Parańaque City (worth P278.622 million), a radio station in Naga valued at P19 million, and a radio station in Iligan City worth P17.8 million. These will be bid out on Nov. 26.
Created in 1986 by President Corazon Aquino, the PCGG is tasked with recovering the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses and their cronies.
“The road to selling government assets is a long, tedious and at times even exasperating one. There is simply no shortcuts that allow selling in haste,” Abcede said.
He said that before a government-owned property could be offered for sale, it must hurdle legal questions of ownership.
“The government must prove itself to be the absolute owner, and not prevented by law or pending litigation from selling,” he said.
Abcede said the properties should also be appraised by at least two independent appraisers “and it is not unusual for these appraisers to come out with wildly divergent appraised values.”
All the details of any proposed sale is “examined minutely” by the multi-agency technical committee of the Privatization Management Office, he said.
“If the committee approves the transaction, it will then have to go up to the Privatization council for final review and approval,” Abcede said.
He said the privatization council was made up of Cabinet-level officials.
“Not infrequently a proposal to sell is sent back to the technical committee for further vetting, or else altogether thumbed down,” he said.
Cost-benefit analysis
Abcede said the government was also conducting a cost-benefit analysis of assets that provide public services, like the National Center for Mental Health in Mandaluyong City, to determine if these should be sold.
Abcede was reacting to Pimentel’s statement that the sprawling complex of the National Center for Mental Health and the Welfareville or Boys Town in Mandaluyong City, the land of the national penitentiary in Muntinlupa City, the Home for the Aged in Quezon City and Philippine Postal Corp. were being sold in complete disregard of their importance in providing vital social services.
Protest in Tokyo
In Tokyo, a network of Filipino and Japanese organizations and individuals called on the Philippine government to stop a reported plan to sell the Philippine embassy property in Japan.
Members of the Save Fujimi Property International Network held a protest on Nov. 2 at the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo to appeal for the preservation of the shared cultural and historical rights of the Filipino and Japanese people.
The activity coincided with the arrival in Tokyo of Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, whom the protesters also met.
Cesar Santoyo, the network’s coordinator and mission director of the Center for Japanese-Filipino Families, described as “highly suspect” the plans to develop the property.
He said his group had heard that the Department of Finance had invited bidders to develop the area.
“The Arroyo administration, whose term will end in seven months, has been implicated in various high-profile corruption cases. We’re concerned that many doubts exist about the real intent behind this move to commercialize the Fujimi ambassadorial residence,” Santoyo said in a statement sent from Tokyo.
Public hearing
The protesters demanded that “any major decision related to historic Filipino-owned property must be done with full public hearing, both in the Philippines and Japan, backed up by thorough studies and with utmost transparency.”
“We are appealing to preserve the shared cultural and historical rights of the Filipino and Japanese people,” read the protesters said in a letter addressed to Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, chair of the Senate’s foreign relations committee.
Upscale site
The property, located in Tokyo’s Chiyoda special ward, is one of the most upscale real estate sites in Tokyo.
The 12-square-kilometer Chiyoda contains the Kokyo or the Imperial Palace; national government buildings such as the Diet, prime minister’s residence and the Supreme Court; and 15 foreign embassies, including the Philippines’.
Purchased in 1944 by the Philippine government, the property has a 1952 marker from the Philippine National Historical Institute certifying that the structure was built during the so-called Tokugawa or Edo period (1603-1868) of Japan, which marked the East Asian country’s early modern history.
Santoyo said Cayetano had vowed to block the midnight sale of the property, adding that when the Senate resumes its session on Nov. 9, he and other senators would scrutinize the matter.
“We will heighten our protest action to frustrate the Arroyo government in stealing away the shared cultural and historical heritage of peoples of the Philippines and Japan. Ms Arroyo and the bidders will bear the high cost of political, legal and constitutional questions from their actions,” said Yuko Takei, one of the group’s leaders.
Signature campaign
The group held another protest in front of the embassy at 4 p.m. Thursday, followed by signature signing in train stations around Tokyo, Saitama, Nagoya, Kyoto, and Osaka, to be conducted by the members of the network.
Among those who have signed the petition were Rev. Toshifumi Aso of the National Christian Council of Japan’s Philippine committee, professor Temario Rivera of International Christian University, Philippine Women’s League chair Yuko Takei, Young Women’s Catholic Association-Kyoto general secretary Chie Yamamoto, and members of the United Japanese-Filipino Children.
In the Philippines, the signatories include National Artist and Ramon Magsaysay awardee Bienvenido Lumbera, and University of the Philippines-College of Mass Communication dean Dr. Roland Tolentino.
