No ‘midnight sale’ of assets for poll campaign–Palace
By Mia Gonzalez & Butch Fernandez, Business Mirror | 11/04/2009 12:39 AM
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MANILA - Malacañang said on Tuesday that it is “unfair” to accuse the government of plotting to conduct a midnight sale of public assets to fund the administration’s election campaign, stressing that privatization has always been part of the state’s revenue-generation program.
Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Lorelei Fajardo also said in a news briefing that calls to defer the privatization of some state assets could be discussed if they are based on valid reasons.
Asked to comment on fears that the government is rushing the sale of some assets to fund its election campaign next year, Fajardo said, “Definitely not. We all know that privatization has been a long-running program of our administration.”
She said that if Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. has any evidence to back up his allegations, he would file the appropriate charges against concerned public officials before the proper court.
“It would be unfair for such statement saying that there is undue haste in selling the assets because the President’s administration is nearing the end of its term,” she said.
Asked to comment on calls to defer the sale of some state properties such as the prime lot in the Fujimi District in Tokyo which houses the official residence of the Philippine ambassador, Fajardo said: “We may seriously take a look into it. Their reasons for opposing it may be valid.”
Warning that history would be repeated in the matter of assets of the state put up for sale without regard for their strategic importance, five senators on Sunday joined Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel in pressing the Arroyo administration to desist from “midnight sales” and demanded a thorough scrutiny of any intended sale.
Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada and Senators Francis Escudero, Noynoy Aquino, Alan Cayetano and Francis Pangilinan backed Pimentel’s call to abort any planned auctions amid fears that these deals were “designed more to fatten the pockets of unscrupulous bureaucrats than to replenish the public treasury,” especially since only seven months remain of the administration.
Pimentel recalled past sales during this administration—from its shareholdings in Petron and Meralco—and past administrations “without due regard to the strategic importance of maintaining government stakes in these corporate enterprises.”
Escudero said, “Any such midnight deals should be scrutinized to make sure that it is motivated by what is in the best interest of the country and the assets of the state are protected from dissipation.”
Aquino added the Senate should also look into “so many contracts that are being awarded” during the remaining months of the Arroyo administration, which ends on June 30, 2010.
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,” said Pimentel.
He found it “unfortunate” the sprawling complex of the National Center for Mental Health and the Welfareville or Boys Town in Mandaluyong City, the premises of the National Penitentiary in Muntinlupa City, the home for the aged in Quezon City and the Philippine Postal Corporation are being sold by the government in complete disregard of their importance in providing vital social services.
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