The government plans to sell several properties in the Ortigas district as well as the cities of Muntinlupa and Mandaluyong next year as part of efforts to raise much-needed revenues to plug its huge budget deficit.

Finance Secretary Margarito Teves told reporters that the government would dispose of several real estate assets held by the Presidential Commission of Good Government and Privatization and Management Office of the Finance Department.

Teves said these included the 300-hectare National Bilibid Prisons property in Muntinlupa City held by PMO, the 18-hectare Payanig sa Pasig Property in Ortigas owned by PCGG and the 112-hectare Welfareville lot in Mandaluyong City of the Social Welfare Department.

“I think the total amount will be larger than P10 billion but we have to thresh out issues among the properties. It is a rough figure,” Teves said.

The Finance Department hopes to raise P12.5 billion from the sale of big-ticket assets next year, or less than half the projected P30-billion privatization proceeds this year.

It has scheduled the bidding of the 100-hectare property of Food Terminal Inc. in Taguig City with an indicative price of about P13 billion on Oct. 8. It also plans to dispose its 40-percent stake in PNOC Exploration Corp. before the end of the year.

Teves earlier said the government hoped to pursue fiscal consolidation next year after failing to put its fiscal house in order due to the US financial crisis.

The Philippines hopes to trim the budget deficit to P233.4 billion, or 2.8 percent of the gross domestic product next year, from a record P250 billion this year.

The country’s shortfall swelled 462 percent to P188 billion in the first seven months of the year from P33.4 billion year-on-year, making it “tighter” for the government to achieve its full-year budget deficit ceiling.

The administration of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has implemented a series of fiscal reforms that trimmed the budget deficit to P12.4 billion in 2007 from a record P210.7 billion in 2002.

However, adverse external developments forced the Arroyo government to abandon its commitment to balance the budget last year and even in 2010 as stated under its Medium Term Philippine Development Plan.

Instead, the government booked a budget shortfall of P68.1 billion last year due to weak tax take brought about by the global economic slump as well as accelerated spending to cushion the impact of the worldwide crisis.