PIMENTEL CALLS FOR SPEEDY PRIVATIZATION OF
SEQUESTERED MEDIA OUTLETS

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Nene Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today expressed dismay over the prolonged delay in the privatization of broadcast networks that have been sequestered by the government since 1986 for allegedly being part of the ill-gotten wealth of former President Ferdinand Marcos and their cronies.

As long as these television and radio stations are under sequestration, Pimentel said they will continue to be used as propaganda mouthpieces of the government.

He said that since these broadcast networks are under the control of the government, the opposition should have access to them, but that is not necessarily so.

Efforts must be exerted to speed up the privatization of these companies so that they would fully enjoy the independence that they should have if they are private entities. But the way it looks, it is as if their privatization is left hanging so that they continue to be under the thumb of the administration, Pimentel said.

The sale of Radyo Philippine Network-9 and Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation-13 has been entrusted to the Privatization Management Office (PMO) of the Department of Finance.

The PMO hired a financial adviser from the private sector to undertake the valuation and bidding of the two broadcast networks.

But Pimentel said the latest word from the DOF-PMO was that the bidding of RPN-9 and IBC-13 has not been undertaken until now and that it has been indefinitely put on hold due to certain problems or constraints that should first be resolved.