PPP, BOT amendments certified urgent

MANILA, Philippines – Legislative measures which will make the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center permanent and amend the current build-operate-transfer (BOT) law has been certified as urgent.

“The PPP Law has just been certified as urgent by the President,” Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima told reporters in a roundtable yesterday.

The certification allows Congress to pass the bill on both second and third readings on the same day, doing away with the need for a two-day leeway.

At the House of Representatives, the unnumbered bill was approved by the House appropriations committee Tuesday.

 At the Upper House, Senate Bill 3035 is now pending on second reading at the plenary.

 The measures aim to amend Republic Act 7718 or the BOT Law to allow for the institutionalization of the Aquino administration’s PPP initiative.

The current BOT law was enacted in 1990 and was last amended in 1994.

The PPP Center was established through Executive Order No. 4 by President Aquino in 2010, which paved the way for the administration’s PPP initiative.

 Failure to pass the law would make the Center and the entire PPP program at risk of being easily discontinued by the next administration.

Purisima highlighted the importance of the BOT amendments in light of the success of the bidding of 12 PPP projects amounting to around P250 billion since November 2010.

 “This is a very important measure because I think it’s time that we have a category of national infrastructure project,” he said.