The Philippines is targeting to finish the privatization of all of its casino by the third quarter of 2017, according to a Philippine senator, according to a report of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Senator Loren Legarda, chair of the Senate committee on finance, disclosed during the plenary of the Department of Finance’s proposed 2017 budget that the government has started privatizing its casinos and it is expected to be completed by September next year.

PAGCOR’s casino privatization plan was brought up in the plenary after Senate President Pro Tempore Franklin Drilon inquired about the government’s stand on the proposal to remove the state regulator’s operating function.

Legarda, in response, told the chamber that the government has already started the process of privatizing the state casinos.