Due to counterclaims that must be settled between the government and the private-sector operator of Cavite-Laguna Expressway (CALAX), the Department of Finance (DOF) said the booking of ₱12.6 billion in concession fees will be deferred to next year.

This amount accounts for 74 percent of the ₱17 billion in total concession fees to be paid to the government under the concession agreement.

“The rest of the CALAX fees will most likely be for next year. There are counterclaims to settle,” Finance Undersecretary Catherine L. Fong, who heads the DOF’s privatization and partnerships group (PPG), told Manila Bulletin last Monday, Sept. 8.

Given the counterclaims being pursued by the private company, the net amount the government can secure could be lower than the original concession fee.

To recall, the DOF managed to rake in ₱4.4 billion from MPCALA Holdings Inc., a subsidiary of Manuel V. Pangilinan (MVP)-led Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC). This accounted for a third of the total concession fees the private firm owes the government.

Fong earlier told Manila Bulletin that privatization revenues as of July had reached ₱5.5 billion.

However, as of end-July, the government’s recorded revenues from its privatization efforts reached only ₱1.3 billion. The latest data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed that July contributed just ₱7 million, mostly from lease rentals.

Fong explained the partial remittance from MPCALA Holdings has already been logged but not filed under the “privatization” category. “It has already come in. Maybe it’s the labeling. Concession fees are not booked as ‘privatization.’”

Under the national government’s quarterly fiscal program approved by the Cabinet-level Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) in June, ₱4.218 billion in privatization remittances was expected in the fourth quarter of this year.

National Treasurer Sharon P. Almanza also told Manila Bulletin that the remittance from the private firm formed part of the government’s other non-tax revenues “since it’s not an asset sale.”

Even with the boost from this remittance, other non-tax revenues plunged by nearly 50 percent to ₱73.7 billion in the first seven months of 2025 from ₱143.6 billion in the same period last year.

Overall, non-tax earnings fell 24.5 percent to ₱277 billion during the seven-month period from ₱368.7 billion a year ago.

“We [have] various non-tax revenue efforts that are not necessarily booked as ‘privatization,’” Fong said.

For example, the ₱36.3-billion proceeds from the recent sale of the Caliraya-Botocan-Kalayaan (CBK) hydroelectric power complex will technically be booked as “dividends” despite being settled through a privatization effort, she explained.

Efforts to increase the country’s revenues outside of privatization are also underway. “I’ve asked the BIR [Bureau of Internal Revenue] to garnish some accounts… I’m not sure if they’ve already done it. That will, of course, be booked as tax revenue,” Fong said.

For 2026, the DOF is targeting to raise ₱193.7 billion from the privatization of big-ticket idle government assets, according to recent reports.

Among the largest assets in the pipeline are the ₱53.5-billion, nearly 130,000-square-meter (sqm) Financial Center Area in Pasay City, and the ₱40.4-billion Food Terminal Inc. (FTI) property in Taguig City.

Also slated for sale are the Ecology Villages I, II, and III in Makati City worth a combined ₱13.61 billion, as well as the ₱12.26-billion Mile Long Complex in Makati City.