BY MBC
Tempo, Wednesday, 06 October 2010
An offer of a Malaysian company to lease the 33-hectare Philippine Navy (PN) property at Fort Bonifacio Taguig is now being evaluated by Malacanang, Rear Admiral Danilo M. Cortez told the Senate yesterday. Appearing before the Senate finance committee chaired by Sen. Franklin M. Drilon, Cortez said the lease under the label of Public Private Partnership (PPP) of the Aquino administration was expected to bring in about 1"1 billion annually to the national coffers as "profit sharing." Cortez identified the foreign firm as Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad MRCB).
In his July 26 State of the Nation Address (SoNA), President Benigno S. Aquino III disclosed his plan to lease out the Navy property to a private sector under his PPPscheme. Cortez said the lease papers, technically termed as an "unsolicited proposal," are now with Executive Secretary Paquito OChoa. Senate President Juan Ponce Emile, former Defense minister of the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos, cautioned Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Department of National Defense (DND) that developers would "not give you a free ride" as the PN property is a very valuable property.
