SEN. Panfilo Lacson pressed Wednesday for full “audit and inventory” of state-owned assets before these are sold in auction to bankroll the Duterte administration’s ongoing efforts to contain the deadly Covid-19 pandemic.
The senator stressed that prior to the sale “an audit and inventory of all these assets should be conducted posthaste,” even as he reminded that the state should also retain “only those government-owned and -controlled corporations [GOCCs] that generate revenue, and sell the rest.”
He reminded that “while it is a mark of a true leader to consider any measure—no matter how extraordinary—to save us all, proper and prudent steps must be taken in consideration of the country’s long-term survival, thus avoiding that future generations of Filipinos will be left with nothing.”
Lacson lamented in a statement there are a number of GOCCs with real estate and other assets, that “still receive subsidies from the national government year in and year out, mainly because they are mismanaged—if not being used as cash cows by unscrupulous officials.”
“An audit and inventory of all these assets should be conducted posthaste,” Lacson said as he prodded the Duterte administration to “retain only those that generate revenue, and sell the rest.”
The senator added, “It bears repeating that this is an extraordinary time that calls for extraordinary measures, for the survival of our people and the whole country.”