Long before the Commission on Audit’s (COA) September 2022 letter following up the purchase of an office space, the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL), an attached agency of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), said it has been scouting for its new, permanent headquarters since 2016.
The Office has saved up an amount that will allow the purchase of its own property without compromising its operations. IPOPHL carefully reviewed its options, which included constructing a building within the UP Diliman property where the land will be on a 25-year lease agreement. In this arrangement, however, the structure shall be owned by UP Diliman thereafter.
IPOPHL also considered joining the proposed One DTI Building along Macapagal Avenue; purchasing an entire building; or buying a lot to construct a building. However, these proved either infeasible or too costly for IPOPHL’s modest funds, hence, the decision to purchase two entire building floors of a finished structure for IPOPHL’s exclusive use instead.
On the potential sites, IPOPHL surveyed areas within the Makati, Ortigas and Taguig central business districts where majority of IP law offices are, but it was either prices were beyond IPOPHL’s range or available spaces were not enough nor appropriate.
After numerous ocular inspections and consultations from various relevant government agencies, IPOPHL pursued negotiations with Arthaland Development Corp. over the purchase of two floors totaling 5,999 square meters in Savya Financial Center located in Arca South.
Touted as the next BGC, Arca South is poised to be the next large-scale business and lifestyle district in Metro Manila being the site of a sub-station of the subway train station. It is also convenient for most of IPOPHL’s clients, stakeholders and employees as it is not very far from its current location of the IPOPHL office along McKinley road.
The acquisition will expand IPOPHL’s current office space of 5,091 sqm by about 908 sqm. The additional space will also serve IPOPHL’s fast-growing manpower. In March 2021, its plantilla positions jumped by 62% from 308 to 498 with the approval by the Department of Budget and Management of additional 192 positions.
According to IPOPHL Director General Rowel S. Barba, “with a permanent home, we see greater financial sustainability and greater fiscal space to work on our programs and create a greater impact for our innovative and creative communities.”
Exercising fiscal prudence to ensure long-term financial sustainability, IPOPHL became a self sustaining government agency in August 2006, meaning it does not get any single centavo from the national government and only gets to spend money earned by the agency. Part of its fiscal strategy then required temporarily leasing office space and at that time, McKinley proved to be a strategic and viable location as Bonifacio Global City and nearby areas were still being developed and rentals were still low.
“With rent escalations of 5% per year, it is to the best interest of IPOPHL and the government to invest its retained earnings in real estate which will result in lease savings amounting to P4.7B over the next 25 years. These savings may very well be diverted to service upgrades and expansion, helping improve our online services, pursuing our Digital Transformation program, and helping more businesses, innovators and creators in the country protect their IP assets,” the IPOPHL chief said.
“We hope this acquisition will allow us to comply with the issuance of COA to whom we send regular updates to ensure we observe public financial accounting standards,” Barba added.
