Indonesia drafting rules to apply VAT on online products and services

July 18, 2019 | 12:02 am

JAKARTA — Indonesia is drafting new rules to impose value added tax to online products and services provided by offshore companies, as authorities target a bigger slice of revenue from the country’s fast-growing digital market, a top tax official told Reuters.

Indonesia is the world’s fourth most populous country with 260 million people and, according to a joint study by Google and Temasek Holdings, the value of its internet economy reached $27 billion last year and is poised to grow to $100 billion by 2025.

John Hutagaol, a tax department official, said while a global debate continued on how best to tax corporate income in this area it was generally accepted that VAT, or in some cases sales tax, could be placed on digital goods and services.

“It’s the low hanging fruit and can be applied as per every country’s rules,” said Hutagaol, who heads the international department at the tax office.

However, to charge VAT, Indonesia would need new “implementation rules to decide on the mechanism, because the current rules only apply to conventional transactions, while digital ones are not limited by space and time,” he said.

Southeast Asia’s largest economy currently levies 10% VAT on all goods and services, but any business whose turnover is below a threshold of 4.8 billion rupiah ($345,000) is exempted.

The new VAT rules would be imposed on e-commerce, content providers, start-ups and other internet-based economic activities, Hutagaol said, adding authorities were looking to learn from the experience of Japan and Australia in applying such digital taxes.

He declined to say how long it might take to draft and bring in the new rules.

Indonesians are avid users of social media like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, while the popularity of streaming services like Spotify and Netflix are growing.

In 2016, Indonesia investigated Alphabet Inc’s Google for alleged tax evasion, including missing VAT payments on advertising revenue, but authorities eventually reached an undisclosed settlement. — Reuters

Virtual banking to gain ground in emerging markets

July 18, 2019 | 12:02 am

VIRTUAL BANKING in emerging markets (EM) is seen to pick up as large unbanked populations and greater adoption of technologies present opportunities for the success of digital banks, S&P Global Ratings said.

In a report titled “The Future Of Banking: Virtual Banks Chase The Dream In Asia-Pacific,” the global debt watcher said the underbanked population in EMs is a key factor in driving the growth of digital banking in the region.

“Primarily a factor in emerging markets, virtual banking facilitates the introduction of simple banking products through accessible means other than branches,” S&P said in the report published Tuesday.

“Emerging market nations in Asia-Pacific are home to vast numbers of ‘underbanked’ customers, which provides opportunities for virtual banks to gain a foothold and scale up their business models,” it added.

In the case of the Philippines, only 22.6% or some 15.8 million Filipino adults maintain formal bank accounts, citing the lack of money and of the need to have an account as the main reasons, according to the latest Financial Inclusion Survey conducted by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in 2017.

S&P added that current and future trends affecting demographics, urbanization and customer behavior across the region are “supportive” of digital banking.

“A young demographic pool, greater openness toward adopting new and innovative technologies in banking services — especially in China — and increasing consumerism provide tailwinds for the success of virtual banks.”

Dutch financial firm ING Bank N.V. and Malaysian lender CIMB Bank both entered the local retail banking industry earlier this year as all-digital banks, offering saving accounts with high interest rates and without maintaining balance.

In CIMB’s case, S&P said it debuted in the local market as digital-only arm and partnered with 8,000 convenience stores to serve as cash agents.

On the other hand, virtual banking puts forward an opportunity in developed markets to “provide customers with greater banking convenience at a lower cost,” it said.

“From a government standpoint, there is an interest in providing customers with cheaper, more competitive basic banking services in markets that small numbers of large and well-established traditional banks typically dominate,” S&P said.

The credit rater believes that big banks with large and well-established client bases and greater resources can better weather possible competition from digital banks compared with the smaller banks.

However, smaller lenders are expected to partner with technology firms to “rise up the digital learning curve,” it said.

S&P said virtual banking “may not lead to rating or outlook changes” for lenders in Asia-Pacific over the net two years. However, ratings differentiation is “greater” over the long term as digital banking strategies take hold and disrupt the traditional banking segment. — Karl Angelo N. Vidal

Have some not-so-great red wine? Add Coke

July 18, 2019 | 12:02 am

AS THE weeks wear on, and the comedown from Memorial Day, Pride Month, and the Fourth of July starts to settle in, there’s no better cure for summer ennui than a movie in the park. Thanks to inflatable screens and digital projectors, you don’t necessarily need to be in a big city to catch a classic with hundreds of your neighbors (although it helps). But you do need something to sip on as the late-evening sun slips below the horizon, and Back to the Future II starts rolling.

Cue up the Kalimotxo (Calimocho).

Everyone has heard of rum and coke. It’s right up there in the pantheon of simple cocktails you don’t need to be a trained bartender to pull off, and it can be surprisingly tasty with a few tweaks. Think of the Kalimotxo as a rum and coke having a semester abroad: It’s equal parts red wine and cola. That’s it. That’s the drink. And it’s exceptionally easy to tote to the park in a bag.

“Some people look down on the drink, but putting on our bar-owner hats, it’s actually well-balanced,” says Brianna Volk, co-owner of Little Giant in Portland, Maine, which has a Kalimoxto on its menu made with Moxie, a gentian-flavored soda. “The tannins in the wine balance out the too-sweet Coca-Cola. It just makes a refreshing and incredibly accessible cocktail.”

Plus, she continues, “It’s just a fun, but kind of weird drink. It makes us want to eat lots of seafood or grill steaks for a picnic. We know when we start making them, we are going to have a great night.”

The Kalimotxo has been around since the 1920s, but it wasn’t until the first Coca-Cola factory opened in Spain in the 1950s that the drink started to gain popularity in Spain’s northern Basque region, where it originated as a way to drink not-so-great red wine.

You might see variations with additional wine or with such garnishes as a lemon or lime wheel, but equal parts offers the right balance of buzz — caffeine and wine — to keep you relaxed but alert, so you can stay film-focused. Here we swap out plain cola for Cherry Coke Zero; its restrained sweetness and fruity flavor are a better match for the tannins in the wine. This drink will be tasty with any red wine you have handy, but big and bold Spanish reds work best.

TXERRY KALIMOTXO

Serves 1

6 oz. red wine, such as Spanish Rioja or temperanillo

6 oz. Cherry Coke Zero

Combine in a large, park-friendly (unbreakable) cup filled with ice. One standard 750 mL bottle of wine will make four cocktails. — Bloomberg

A choice of wine openers

July 18, 2019 | 12:01 am

OPENING wine bottles with cork closures can be quite challenging. And breaking a wine cork could be one of the most frustrating — and embarrassing — moments for any wine lover. Yet, we encounter this quite often at home as well as in restaurants where waitstaff struggle to open wine bottles with their different wine openers. While drinking wine is relaxing, opening a wine bottle can be stressful to many. I think it is about time we take a more serious look at the different kinds of wine openers and see how each one functions in removing the cork that protects and preserves our wines.

SEVEN DIFFERENT KINDS OF WINE OPENERS

• The Waiter’s Friend Corkscrew — As far as I am concerned, any self-respecting wine person needs to have this as their basic wine opener. Other openers can be part of a wine accessory collection. There are several models for this type of opener, but my favorite is the double-lever version. This type of Waiter’s Friend allows the cork to be pulled out in two steps, leveraging each lift to avoid cracking the whole cork as the wine is being opened. There is still no guarantee of that you will not break a cork with this opener, but the more you use it, the more you will become adept at it. The Waiter’s Friend is not very expensive, but if you long for the “Rolls-Royce” of this kind of corkscrew, there is the French-made Laguiole corkscrew — it is made in Auvergne, France, hand-crafted individually by artisans like an expensive Swiss watch, and uses traditional craftsmanship dating back to 1829. The Laguiole cost more than many premium wines, and is easily between P5,000 to P10,000 per corkscrew.

• The Winged Corkscrew, a.k.a. Butterfly Corkscrew — This is probably the most common opener you will see in restaurants, supermarkets, and liquor shops here in the country. All of these winged corkscrews are made in China and available cheaply at between P150 to P200. I really despise this opener as it is by far the most unreliable of all cork pullers. First, there is no sharp blade or knife in this corkscrew, so removing the foil of the bottle is already a challenge. Then the “screw part” or spiral bit is too course and, more often than not, tears the cork apart. After the screw enters the cork, the butterfly wings go up in synchronized form, than you have to push both the wings down to release the cork. It may look aesthetically nice, but this opener sucks.

• The “Ah-So,” a.k.a. Two-Prong Cork Puller — This is a German engineered wine opener, using two unequal steel prongs to pull the cork out. The concept is to insert the two prongs in between the cork and the bottle, and then to twist and pull the cork until the cork slides out. I am not a huge fan of this opener in general, but for old vintage wines that have brittle corks, the Ah-So is by far the best opener to get the entire cork out. This opener can also rescue corks that break in half inside the bottle by pulling out the remaining cork piece better than other openers that tend to further shred the rest of the cork. Sadly though, this opener can be used by dishonest wine traders to substitute something else for the actual wine in the bottle, as the opener can leave no trace, nor hole in the original cork when being opened or closed. You can rarely find these openers in wine shops but it should not be that expensive.

• The “Rabbit Ear” or “Bunny Ear” Wine Opener — There are mounted and un-mounted versions to this brilliant piece of mechanical ingenuity. The screw/spiral bit from the rabbit ear penetrates through the cork and pulls the entire cork out in one swift motion. After the wine is opened, the second motion from rabbit ear opener releases the cork. I used this quite a lot when I was operating a wine bar several years back, and my mounted Rabbit Ear also looked quite aesthetically pleasing. My only beef with this opener, and this same argument applies to the two openers that follow in this list, is that the spiral bit touches the wine as it penetrates the cork to pull the entire cork out. As a wine purist, I hate that my wine gets touched by anything foreign. The un-mounted version costs around P1,000, while the mounted version can be more expensive.

• The Screwpull Opener — Screwpull is a trademark for a wine opener created in 1979 by owner-designer Herbert Allen of Hallen International Inc. Hallen International and its very successful Screwpull line of wine openers and accessories were sold in 1991 to French cookware and kitchen tools company Le Creuset. Screwpull openers are designed to hold and cover the neck of wine bottle and feature Teflon coated screws/spiral bits that easily pierce and penetrate through the cork till the cork is thoroughly released. I bought my first Screwpull in the mid-1990s, and I still marvel at this simple, yet extremely efficient wine opener until now. The model I got is the Le Creuset Travel Screwpull that has a removable and extendable handle, aside from its compact size. I rarely use my Screwpull now (as I mentioned above, I do not like my wine being touched by the screw), but I still show it to my class when I conduct my wine seminars as an example of a very good kind of wine opener. The Travel Screwpull costs around P1,500 to P2,000 each.

• The Electric Wine Opener — There are now many electric wine openers, and they actually all function similarly. The one I have experience with is the Oster brand rechargeable electric wine opener. This is very convenient and easy to use. It even comes with a foil cutter. After removing the top foil and exposing the cork, the Oster electric wine opener is simply placed on top of the bottle and, pushing two control buttons, the cork is removed hassle free and in seconds. To uncork the wine, the downward button is pressed to force the build-in spiral bit through the cork. The electric opener automatically stops when the cork is completely released from the bottle. After this, the upward button is pressed to release the cork from the electric opener. It is a wonderful gadget to show off to your friends. It is slightly noisy however, but the feeling of opening something electronically is still exhilarating. The Oster wine opener is cordless, but needs to be recharged after every 30 bottles uncorked. You need not sweat it out just to open your favorite wine. You can ask your local Oster distributor if this is available in the country. The Oster electric wine opener retails at around $40 in the US, but there are several copycat versions made in China that are easily half the price.

• The Coravin System — Coravin is the recent craze among oenophiles. Created in 2013 by American “medical needle” expert Greg Lambrecht, the Coravin shot to fame among wine aficionados in the last two years. Coravin is a high-tech wine opener and wine preservation device that uses a hollowed needle — similar to an epidural needle — which is inserted through the cork (even with the foil capsule intact) to pour the wine out. At the same time, the bottle is being filled with pure argon gas to prevent oxidation. Once the needle is removed from the bottle, the cork reseals automatically and the wine can be preserved as if it was never opened. It is basically a wine opener that does not remove the cork. Replacement argon gas capsules are sold separately when the build-in argon gas is used up. Coravin replaces the foil cutter, the cork opener, the pourer, and any wine preservation system that is available, whether it be the wine pump, the inert gas can or even the big dispensing machines like the Enomatic system. Coravin is, however, quite expensive, and one of its latest models — the Coravin Eleven — is going to cost you around $1,000.

While the wine openers are merely means to an end, opening wine in comfort and style are probably as important in preparation for wine appreciation. Why stress out before de-stressing?

The author is a member of UK-based Circle of Wine Writers. For comments, inquiries, wine event coverage, and other wine-related concerns, e-mail the author at protegeinc@yahoo.com. He is also on Twitter at twitter.com/sherwinlao.

MGB approved feasibility study for Mabilo project — RTG Mining

July 18, 2019 | 12:01 am

By Vincent Mariel P. Galang, Reporter

THE Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) has approved the feasibility study for the Mabilo project in Camarines Norte, according to mining and exploration company RTG Mining.

“Following a review by the Technical Committee on Mining Project Feasibility Studies, the evaluation confirmed the project is technically and economically feasible after consideration of the environmental, social and fiscal costs prescribed under the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 and its Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations as amended,” RTG said in a disclosure to the Toronto Stock Exchange and Australian Securities Exchange dated July 17.

The feasibility study was conducted by Mt. Labo Exploration and Development Corp., one of the partners of RTG Mining for the project. RTG Mining has an indirect interest in the Mabilo project through Mr. Labo.

The mine site has a near-surface deposit and has the potential for directly shipping ore. This is a proposed open-pit mining and processing project based in the joint venture. It has a mining life of 10 years as of Jan. 1, 2016.

MGB Director Wilfredo G. Moncano confirmed that the feasibility study was approved, but noted that Mt. Labo is still covered by an exploration permit, not a mineral production sharing agreement.

“Since there is still a moratorium in the processing of new MPSA (Mineral Production Sharing Agreement) under EO (Executive Order) 79, Mt. Labo cannot yet proceed to development and extraction. It has to wait for the lifting of the moratorium in EO 79 which could happen if package 2 of the Trabaho Bill will be approved by Congress,” Mr. Moncano told BusinessWorld in a text message.

EO 79, issued in June 2012, imposed a moratorium on new mining permits.

While Republic Act No. 10963, which went into effect in January last year, doubled the excise tax on mineral products to four percent, the Finance department said this did not satisfy EO 79’s requirement for the lifting of the moratorium on new permits. The Department of Finance has been pushing for an overhaul of the mining industry’s fiscal regime, which should also cover royalty, windfall profit and other taxes and fees, as well as incentives.

Game on! Fiverr International offers coaches for Fortnite, PUBG players

July 18, 2019 | 12:01 am

FIVERR International Ltd is tapping into the phenomenal success of Fortnite and PUBG by hooking up players with online gaming experts, who will help them up their game while helping the company make some money in the process.

Fiverr last week unveiled an online store focused on the booming interest in video and mobile games that will let game experts sell their special skill sets to prospective players.

Fortnite and PUBG have been worldwide runaway successes. Both games have an arena-style survival concept, called “battle royale,” where 100 gamers are dropped onto an island to fight each other for survival.

From as little as $5, players can enroll on the site to learn survival skills and how to choose the best landing spots and guns.

Founded in 2010, Fiverr makes money from commissions by connecting people with professionals offering various services on its freelance services platform.

Along with game coaching, buyers and sellers can trade “gigs,” or services in 30 categories ranging from developing a game to polishing game streaming on platforms such as Twitch.

The gaming industry, which has seen massive growth in the past few years, is now dominated by last-man-standing multiplayer games that generate hundreds of millions in revenue by selling character outfits and add-ons.

Fortnite was launched in 2017 and its popularity has pushed the valuation of its publisher Epic Games to $15 billion in a funding round last year. Gamers have also flocked to Electronic Arts Inc.’s Apex Legends and Tencent Holdings Ltd’s “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds” (PUBG).

The numbers of gamers is expected to rise more with the launch of Apple Inc.’s subscription-based game service Apple Arcade this fall and Alphabet Inc.’s browser-based video game streaming service Google Stadia.

“We want to help power the current growth that exists in the broader gaming industry, with the freelance talent and services to help game creators meet their needs,” Fiverr Chief Executive Officer Micha Kaufman said. — Reuters

Australia bank regulator faces overhaul after review

July 18, 2019 | 12:01 am

AUSTRALIA’S banking regulator is set for a major overhaul after a government-commissioned review found it had a “culture of conformity” and needed to become more forceful.

In a scathing 146-page report released Wednesday, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) was found to be slow to act, tentative in addressing issues that don’t entail traditional financial risks, and have a strong preference to work “behind the scenes” with the firms it oversees.

“The main conclusion of this review is that APRA’s internal culture and regulatory approach need to change,” the report said. “APRA needs to shift the dial towards a more strategic and forceful use of communication to ensure that it maximizes its impact with regulated entities.”

Among key recommendations, the report said APRA should be given a veto power over the appointment of senior executives and directors at financial firms, and create a new division to oversee the nation’s A$2.8 trillion ($2 trillion) pension industry, with a specific focus on returns for members.

Australia’s mandatory pension savings regime has been beset by problems, from underperforming funds to the creation of 10 million unintended multiple accounts that cost savers A$2.6 billion a year in unnecessary fees and insurance.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the government will take action to implement the recommendations, including considering the penalties APRA can levy, and review its pay structure to allow it to attract and retain highly skilled staff.

APRA also supports the report’s recommendations, Chairman Wayne Byres said in a statement.

“We do genuinely welcome the review,” Byres later said on a conference call with reporters Wednesday. “It does, quite fairly, make the point that we have more to do, and we need to go further and faster.”

MORE RESOURCES
However, he made a veiled plea for more funding, saying the report identifies a range of areas where APRA needs to do more, “but without providing any suggestion on where it might do less.”

“We need to work with government on how we can best meet the challenge that has been laid out for us,” Byres said.

The review, headed by former competition regulator Graeme Samuel, was commissioned after an inquiry into misconduct in Australia’s financial industry unearthed a series of scandals and lashed regulators for failing to hold lawbreakers to account.

Samuel’s report echoed that sentiment, saying “an approach involving protracted behind the scenes negotiations of prudential issues is out of step with public expectations of regulators” following the Royal Commission. — Bloomberg

Rising demand from offshore gaming operators fuels record-high condominium rent

July 18, 2019 | 12:00 am

How PSEi member stocks performed — July 17, 2019

July 18, 2019 | 12:00 am

Here’s a quick glance at how PSEi stocks fared on Wednesday, July 17, 2019.

Anti-red tape agency to take complaints by text, social media

July 17, 2019 | 10:18 pm

THE Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 11032, or the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018, were signed in Pasay City yesterday, defining the role of a key anti-red tape body that was only recently staffed and authorizing it to take complaints by text and social media.

Lawyer Jeremiah B. Belgica, the recently-appointed Director-General of the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA), was one of the signatories, said the IRR will be published this week and will take effect within 15 days.

ARTA is tasked with investigating all complaints under the law, which sets deadlines for government agencies to complete transactions varying by their complexity.

Mr. Belgica, speaking at the news conference after the signing, said ARTA is authorized to receive complaints from the public in multiple formats, including text messages, a call to the ARTA hotline, and social media posts, as long as the complainant provides his or her identity and contact details, as well as details of the agency and transaction in question and evidence, as warranted.

Following the initial complaint, ARTA will investigate and decide on whether a formal complaint can proceed, with each agency having the right to answer. If the explanation is deemed insufficient, a final complaint will be filed.

The law requires government offices to process simple transactions within three days, complex transactions within seven days, and highly-technical transactions within 20 days.

Violators must answer to complaints to be filed before the Civil Service Commission (CSC) or various courts. The law prescribes sanctions that include suspension up to and including dismissal from the service and forfeiture of benefits, depending on the seriousness of the offense and repeat violations.

“We could file a case with the civil service, with the ombudsman and other appropriate courts. Pwede din ho kaming mag-file din ho ‘ng (We could also file) reports and complaints (to the) Office of the President and other administrative agencies that that specific person actually belongs to,” Mr. Belgica added.

He listed the complaint channels as the ARTA website, the 8888 hotline, ARTA’s Facebook page, and the CSC contact center, which can be reached at 0908-881-6565. ARTA is also planning to launch the 1-ARTA hotline by next month.

ARTA said certain transactions that are subject to longer processing periods by international treaty are exempt from the deadlines imposed by the law.

“We respect international treaties, agreements…Republic Act 11032 is a general law so that if it is in conflict with a special law, then the special law will govern,” said lawyer Ernesto V. Perez, ARTA’s Deputy Director General. — Katrina T. Mina

DA to impose price controls on rice

July 17, 2019 | 10:17 pm

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) said it is seeking to rein in what it called “uncontrolled” market prices for rice by imposing a suggested retail price (SRP) system for the staple grain.

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said the DA is currently drafting a memorandum of agreement (MoA) with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to implement the SRP system.

“We will now be using the Price Act as basis for addressing the uncontrolled prices in the market. We are coming up with the SRP to curb profiteering,” Mr. Piñol said in a briefing Wednesday, adding that he expects the MoA to be signed within the month.

The farmgate price of palay, or unmilled rice, the form in which domestic farmers sell their harvest, has been falling in recent months. Palay prices have been under pressure from the threat of competition from cheaper foreign grain that is now imported more freely after the enactment of rice tariffication.

Mr. Piñol said the SRP on imported commercial rice will be based on the landed cost, while the price of palay will help determine the price ceiling for domestic rice, with the exact price levels to be determined by the DTI, Department of Finance (DoF), and the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).

Before the tariffication law, the National Food Authority (NFA) was effectively the commodity’s price regulator, helping moderate local swings in price and supply by releasing quantities of subsidized rice, as a way of ensuring poor families could access the staple.

Mr. Piñol met with rice industry stakeholders on Tuesday, discussing possible market distortions produced by the Rice Tariffication Law, like the attractive profits to be realized from selling importing rice, at the expense of domestic producers.

“Everybody would like to import to the detriment of the Filipino farmer, wala nang gustong bumili ng (nobody wants to purchase) local palay,” he said.

“This was not the intent of the law. The intent is to make affordable rice available to consumers. That’s the purpose,” he said.

He said it is too early to talk about amending the law, and his focus for now is to “plug loopholes.”

The Rice Tariffication Law, which liberalized rice imports by private traders who must pay a 35% tariff on most of their shipments, particularly on rice from Southeast Asia, is pressuring farmers to sell their harvest for less while also depressing future planting intentions.

Mr. Piñol said in a social media post on Wednesday that according to Customs records, the landed cost of Myanmar 25% broken rice is P18.22 per kilo; Vietnam 5% broken P25.33; and Thailand 5% broken is P23.06.

In early July, the Bureau of Customs (BoC) reported that it collected a total of P5.9 billion in tariffs from P1.43 MMT of rice imported by private traders flowing the implementation of the Rice Tariffication Law.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PPSA) estimates that the average farmgate price of palay fell 0.3% week-on-week during the fourth week of June to P17.85 per kilogram (kg), suggesting that many farmers are disposing of their harvests to private traders at well below the price they might obtain at the NFA, which acquires palay for a base price of P17 plus incentives that can bring the final price up to P20.70.

The NFA is now exclusively focused on buying rice from domestic farmers to maintain its grain reserve. — Vincent Mariel P. Galang

DoF touts Mile Long earnings since 2017; no plans to sell property

July 17, 2019 | 10:17 pm

THE DEPARTMENT of Finance (DoF) has no plans to sell the 2.2 hectare Mile Long property in Makati, noting that the government has earned a net P142.6 million since taking over the asset in August 2017.

“We never had any plans to sell Mile Long,” Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said in a text message on Wednesday.

In a statement, the DoF said that generated P185 million in rents over 21 month, against expenses of P42.46 million. The Department said that the property is earning around P6.7 million on average per month.

“That’s roughly (an income) of P7 million a month from zero,” Mr. Dominguez III was quoted as saying in the statement.

The Mile Long property was previously leased to Sunvar Realty Development Corp. for 14 years, generating zero revenue for the government, according to Mr. Dominguez.

Mr. Dominguez noted that Sunvar, owned by the Rufino and Prieto families, refused to vacate the prime real estate in 2002 after the lease contract expired.

According to the statement, Gerard L. Chan, Chief Privatization Officer of the DoF’s Privatization and Management Office (PMO), said that the property has 128 establishments occupying 219 of its 309 units as of June, for a 71% occupancy rate.

According to Mr. Chan, the government is also earning from the three parking areas of Mile Long that are being leased out.

In 2017, President Rodrigo R. Duterte said that he wanted to sell the property to generate funds to build housing for soldiers. — Reicelene Joy N. Ignacio

1...10,72910,73010,731...14,238 Page 10,730 of 14,238