Government changes mind on sale of RPN 9, IBC 13

The Arroyo administration has removed RPN 9 and IBC 13 from the list of government assets lined up for privatization and finance officials said they have received no explanation for the decision.

Official sources told reporters over the weekend that the government-sequestered television networks were originally lined up for immediate privatization but they have recently been delisted.

IBC 13 and RPN 9 were formerly owned by former Marcos crony and sugar baron Roberto S. Benedicto until they were sequestered by the Presidential Commission on Good Government during the Aquino administration. Benedicto ceded RPN 9 and IBC 13 to the government in 1990 under a compromise agreement that he signed with the PCGG.

Although there has been no recent appraisal of the television companies, they were last estimated to generate at least P2 billion each although their sale never pushed through after both networks landed in a tangle of ownership disputes.

The source said it was not clear whether the legal disputes prompted the removal of RPN 9 and IBC 13 from the privatization list. "We don’t even know what this delisting means. We have been offered no explanation," the source said.

The Arroyo administration has been backtracking on its decision to privatize key government assets such as Petron Corp. which it initially planned to bid out only to change its mind after less than a month.

The administration also considered buying back some of its shares of the Philippine Airlines while its other assets originally up for sale have been quietly removed from the privatization portfolio.

IBC 13 was valued in 1997 at P1.9 billion for all its assets including the 41,000-square-meter lot at Broadcast City in Quezon City, lands and buildings in the provinces, five television stations and nine radio stations.

Earlier reports indicated that RPN 9 is even more problematic since the government still had no idea how much of the network is owned by Benedicto.

Under the compromise agreement, RPN 9 is one of 34 corporate assets where Benedicto had agreed to assign and transfer his rights to the government.

However, the agreement did not specify the extent of Benedicto’s holdings, providing only that he was willing to assign his rights "if he has any."

The PCGG was earlier reported to have estimated that the government owned 72.4 percent of RPN-9’s outstanding shares. Of these, the PCGG said that 32 percent was personally held by Benedicto and his 18 nominees.

On top of the administration’s unclear privatization policy, the assets that it was planning to sell have not been fully audited as the Department of Finance faced resistance from other government agencies that have failed to report the assets under their jurisdiction.

The DOF had already issued a directive requesting the cooperation of other line agencies but officials said the response rate had been dismal. Only 20 percent actually replied and complied with the directive, making it difficult to get a grip on exactly how much idle assets the government still owns.

Initially, the DOF said the government agencies with the most number of idle assets were the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Department of Agriculture and the Public Estates Authority.

The government still has several prime assets lined up for sale including its remaining stake in Petron Corp., Philippine National Bank, Manila Electric Co. and the Philippine National Construction Co.

Aside from these assets, the government also still has a number of prime land assets that have been put on the fast track for privatization such as the long-delayed privatization of the New Bilibid Prisons Reservation in Muntinlupa, the government’s last prime real estate asset estimated to be worth as much as P110 billion.