The House of Representatives Committee on Energy on Wednesday unanimously agreed to extend the corporate life of Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM) Corporation for another 30 years.
House Ways and Means chairperson and Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, one of the principal authors of the measure, said the measure will help the government avoid having to shoulder what he estimates to be P198 billion in PSALM liabilities by 2026 when the corporation is set to expire under its original charter.
“We were supposed to have exhausted all of PSALM’s debts by 2026 if it were not for the COVID-19 pandemic. The privatization of certain assets was delayed due to this crisis,” said Salceda.
“One example is the proposed development of the National Power Corporation (NPC) property in Diliman, Quezon City, for example, into a mixed-use commercial complex. We won’t have it done by 2026, so that effort will warrant the corporate life extension of the state-run corporation," he added.
He said PSALM has to have a plan for the use of proceeds from privatization efforts over the course of the 30-year extension of its corporate life.
“I’d like to emphasize to PSALM that this is not a blank check from Congress. We want certain milestones and benchmarks. Certainly, over the course of the extension, PSALM will begin to be on the green. So, I want to know how these gains will be allocated,” Salceda said.