GSIS to bid Port Area properties on May 3

MANILA — State pension fund Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) has set the bidding date for the sale of its 78-hectare property in Port Area on May 3, 2018.

“We are selling the Port Area property owned by the GSIS to make the fund healthier and have more projects for pensioners,” GSIS president and general manager Clint Aranas said in a briefing Tuesday.

The said properties are composed of two lots, one of which measures 672,645 square meters while the other is about 109,212 square meters — located near Pier 2 in Manila North Harbor and Negros Navigation Ferry Terminal in Tondo, Manila.
Aranas said they have set a floor price of about PHP20 billion for both properties, which he said have some illegal structures and would be sold on “as is, where is” basis.

The properties’ cost per square meter is about PHP25,582 citing that this is in line with the cost of properties in the area.

Aranas said the sale of the properties would be made to bolster GSIS’ funds “to secure and support our fund.”

He also said that the subject assets are “not doing its purpose anymore.”

“Non-performing assets will be auctioned off or we can do a project on it as seen befitting by our experts on the matter,” he added.

Earlier, GSIS said its total asset as of November 2016 amount to about PHP1.09 trillion.

Meanwhile, Aranas attributed to transparency the decision to extend by another month or until April 13, 2018 the deadline for submission of proposals for prospective external fund managers for its USD800-million planned investment overseas this 2018.
In turn, the evaluation of technical proposals was postponed to April 16-June 1 from the earlier scheduled of March19-April 30.

“We want more fund managers to choose from…because we are very serious about being transparent,” Aranas said.

The GSIS chief said they have so far received proposals from 37 fund managers although they would be going to tap only two companies.

“We want to get the best of the best,” he added.