PPP projects taking off under Aquino admin

MANILA, Philippines - Trumpeting the Aquino administration’s accomplishments in the area of infrastructure, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said yesterday he remains optimistic that the current administration would fare better than its predecessors in the area of public-private partnerships.

In a speech at the 63rd Management Association of the Philippines Inaugural Meeting and Induction of 2012 Board of Governors, Purisima reminded the crowd of company executives that the current administration has already bid out a major PPP contract “just less than 16 months into its administration.”

 He said this was faster than first non-power PPP project of the Ramos administration, which was the computerization project of the Land Transport Office (LTO). Purisima said the Macapagal-Arroyo administration, meanwhile, took five years before it was able to take off with its PPP program.

The Aquino administration, on the other hand, has already bid out its first PPP contract in December last year, Purisima stressed.

 In December last year, a group led by Ayala Corp. won the government’s first PPP project, a four-kilometer road extending or connecting Daang Hari Road to the Susana Heights interchange of South Luzon Expressway.

Ayala Corp. submitted a bit of P902 million for the 30-year concession. The cost of the construction of the Daang Hari project is estimated at P1.96 billion.

During his speech, he said the government would continue to push the PPP program this year, urging the crowd to help the current administration with the reforms it has been putting in place.

“You can change 30 or 40 cabinet secretaries but the same culture is there. The same processes are there. The same Commission on Audit (COA) rules are there to block you every step of the way. It’s not easy but the important thing is that President Aquino has taken on big challenges,” Purisima said.

 He urged MAP members to help the government by paying the proper taxes, not giving in to corrupt measures and even by joining civil service.

Quick to say that he was not making excuses, Purisima cited the slow wheels of justice as stumbling blocks to the administration’s reform efforts.

He said this was the reason that President Aquino is “taking on” the Supreme Court. President Aquino has pushed for the impeachment of Supreme Court Chief Justice Renate Corona for allegedly favoring former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in court decisions and amassing ill-gotten wealth among other allegations.

“RATES (Run After Tax Evaders) and RATS (Run After the Smugglers) cases are stuck in court with over billions of pesos,” Purisima said, referring to the respective anti-tax evasion and anti-smuggling cases of the Bureaus of Internal Revenue and Customs.

He urged businessmen to help the government in transforming the country by paying the proper taxes and not contribute to smuggling and corruption.