Privatization Waves in the Philippines

Privatization in the Philippines is taking place in three waves:

The First Wave
The first wave of privatization took place in 1986 and 1987 when the country was faced with serious financial problems aggravated by the presence of non-performing assets and bankrupt agencies. These properties were mostly foreclosed and sequestered by Government banks but which left millions of loans for the Government to also assume payment. These included assets regained from the deposed President Ferdinand Marcos and his friends and relatives. Faced with a crisis, the Government decided to dispose such assets by reselling to private parties.

The Second Wave
The second wave started in 1990 with the privatization in the power sector. The projects that were implemented under the privatized scheme of Build-Operate and Transfer met with considerable success. Hence, similar schemes were replicated in other areas following the expansion and improvement of RA 6957or the BOT Law. Various delivery schemes were employed in areas of infrastructure such as roads, seaports, airports, water and even Information Technology.

The Third Wave
This is the current stage of privatization in the Philippines. Under this stage, there are additional areas where privatization schemes are being adopted. These include housing, health, postal services, and pension funds.