An estimated P1.9 trillion-worth of non-financial government properties, which include roads, hospitals, power plants, and irrigation facilities, have so far been covered by the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) in its National Asset Registry System (NARS) as of end-December 2021.
In a report to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, the BTr said the new entries to this consolidated database of non-financial, strategically important state assets were 5,819 properties, mostly from the Department of Transportation (DOTr)’s attached agencies, with a combined value of P361 billion.
“We will continue to expand the coverage of the NARS to improve the oversight and management of non-financial public assets,” National Treasurer Rosalia De Leon said in her report to the Finance Secretary.
As of December 31, 2021, the P1.9 trillion worth of government properties on the NARS list covered a total asset count of 380,817 properties, she said.
These include roads, bridges, school buildings, power plants, towers, hospitals, and irrigation facilities, she added.
In 2017, the BTr launched the NARS to maintain a reliable inventory of the national government (NG)’s non-financial assets and help in the monitoring, inspection and validation, and management of assets under custody by the NG.
The BTr continues to enhance the NARS to include more functionalities with the help of development partners such as the World Bank (WB) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
Among the uses of the NARS data is to support the National Indemnity Insurance Program (NIIP).
The NIIP was one of the recommendations of the Interagency Committee (IAC) on Government Property Insurance (GPI) composed of the BTr, the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), and the Insurance Commission (IC). The NIIP aims to provide adequate and comprehensive insurance protection to socio-economically important government assets against perils such as typhoons, floods, storm surges, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions.
De Leon also reported to Secretary Dominguez that several acquired properties forfeited in favor of the government were endorsed to the Privatization and Management Office (PMO) for disposition.
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