Pasig property yielded by Marcos associate hikes net income to P62.4M in 2015

MANILA, Philippines — Despite ongoing disputes over its prime piece of property in Pasig City, a corporation formerly owned by an associate of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos reported an increase of more than P16 million in its net income in 2015.

The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) said that the Independent Realty Corp. (IRC), a group of companies surrendered to the government by known Marcos associate Jose Y. Campos in 1986, earned P62.4 million in 2015, or 35 percent higher than its net income of P46.1 million two years ago.

Over the last five years, PCGG Chair Richard Amurao said that IRC has remitted to the government close to P1 billion. To date, IRC has also privatized around P2.2 billion worth of Marcos assets. He credits the “sound management policy” implemented by IRC and the PCGG for its “improved performance and sustained growth.”

In a report to the PCGG, IRC general manager Luis Quiogue attributed the increase to the boost in rental income from the government’s recovery of a 1.1-hectare portion of the Payanig sa Pasig property. The government got hold of this portion of Payanig, considered as PCGG’s “crown jewel” in the Ortigas Center, through a court order issued by the Pasig Metropolitan Trial Court in November 2014.

Earlier, the PCGG announced it would sell on an as-is-where-is basis the 18.5-hectare Payanig property for P16.45 billion. The property is also being claimed by former Ilocos Sur Gov. Chavit Singson’s Blemp Commercial Philippines Inc.

Since the property is being occupied by a number of non-paying tenants, the government has lost over the past decade close to P2 billion, according to the PCGG. To mitigate the losses, cases have been filed against these tenants.

Amurao said that in December, the Office of the Solicitor General filed a motion in the Court of Appeals seeking the National Bureau of Investigation’s authentication of the land titles since two different versions of it were presented by Blemp.  SFM