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Privatization chief resigns
(Business World (Philippines) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)The government's chief privatization officer quit on Tuesday "to pursue other interests in the private sector," leaving behind a long list of state assets and firms up for sale this year.
Jose A.R. Bengzon III, the third person to head the Privatization and Management Office (PMO) in a span of one year, did not say anything more beyond his terse explanation.
Finance Secretary Margarito B. Teves said this was also the reason relayed to him by Mr. Bengzon, who had just arrived from an official trip to China.
A source at the PMO said officials and employees were caught by surprise at the sudden resignation, considering Mr. Bengzon was only eight months on the job and the third to occupy the post in a year. But Mr. Bengzon wanted to step down as early as May 5, the source added.
Mr. Bengzon's predecessor, his cousin Jose Vicente C. Bengzon III, was only four months on the job when he was unceremoniously replaced by the Palace last year, being an associate of ex-Finance chief Cesar A.V. Purisima, leader of the renegade "Hyatt 10" group of Cabinet officials. He himself unceremoniously replaced Ricardo Canlas at the PMO.
The PMO source said: "That's politics for you."
Mr. Bengzon was able to sell one state asset, the four-hectare Manila Gas property in Paco, Manila, for P573 million to Robinsons Land Corp. He left behind the sale of the 48,832-square meter Makati property formerly occupied by the International School, the privatization of the Philippine Postal Corp., government television networks RPN and IBC, and the Al-Amanah Islamic Investment Bank of the Philippines, among other major items.
Finance Undersecretary Gabriel R. Singson, Jr. was appointed PMO caretaker. Mr. Singson said Mr. Bengzon's departure was not necessarily a setback to the government's privatization efforts, considering a number of assets have been sold successfully, such as the government's stake in Philippine National Bank.
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