Online auction for disposable LGUs assets proposed

By Erwin Oliva - INQUIRER.net

A group of local government employees is working on an online service that would auction the unused and disposable assets of local government units (LGUs).

Inspired by e-Bay, eDispose is a web-based service that local government units can enroll in for a fee. The service auctions assets, such as unused vehicles and obsolete computers, to the public, according to Robert Sagun, team leader of the project.

A copy of the group's business concept, which was also presented during the Morph Code event, indicated that under the Local Government Code, any assets to be disposed of that is considered valuable must be sold in public auctions to the highest bidder under the supervision of LGU executives.

The group said that it has no idea how many LGU assets are being sold every year.

Ricardo Bobis Jr., municipal treasurer of San Antonio, Zambales, pointed that San Antonio has about P3 million worth of disposable assets, including old computers, construction equipment, and unserviceable vehicles.

"If we assume that the 1,493 municipalities have the same value of disposable assets as San Antonio, Zambales, and then it's safe to say--in fact [it] might still be undervalued--that potential government revenues can amount to almost P5 billion. Such an estimate does not include disposable assets of cities, provinces and national government agencies," he added.

Bobis is also president of E-governance for Municipal Development Inc., a non-government organization that will run eDispose.

The group acknowledged that they will require "recognition" from the Commission on Audit for the project to be viable.

Currently, notices for the public auction of LGU assets are posted in at least three publicly accessible and conspicuous places. For assets worth more than P50,000, the Local Government Code requires notices of auction published twice in a newspaper of general circulation in a locality.

"The eDispose will act as an online market for LGUs wanting to sell their unused assets and for private buyers, such as recyclers, searching for quality-yet-inexpensive goods. As an auction facility, buyers and sellers have to register/subscribe for a fee to receive and use services provided by eDispose," said the copy of the group's business concept.

Sagun said that the group has also met with the National Computer Center for possible e-government funding.

The web service intends to collect P1,000 to 2,000 from each LGU as an annual subscription fee in return for advertising assets they want to dispose.

"It's a drop in the bucket," said Sagun who is also project officer of the E-Governance for Municipal Development Project of the Canadian Executive Service Organization-Philippine Partnership Branch, in an e-mail in response to queries from INQUIRER.net.

The web service also earns through commissions. About 10 to 15 percent of the value of the assets auctioned will go to the eDispose service.

"It's meant to support the group's operations, especially in the development of other e-governance systems beneficial to LGUs. The group will be functioning as a social enterprise, meaning most of its profits will be reverted back to LGUs in the form of other services," he added.

The group said that it has not done any formal market research.


However, there was "strong interest for such a virtual marketplace when we presented it to the 30 municipalities participating in our CIDA-funded e-governance projects," added Sagun.

Sagun said the eDispose project idea arose because of the existing dysfunctional and costly asset disposal system in the country.