‘Lack of long-term goals hinders Philippines growth’

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s economic growth could have accelerated further had the government consistently funded big-ticket infrastructure projects across different administrations, an economist said.

JC Punongbayan, an associate professor at the University of the Philippines School of Economics, pointed to funding for railway projects as an example, which had always been sneaked into unprogrammed appropriations.

“If funding had only continued for big-ticket infra projects, their opening or partial opening would not have been delayed. That’s the root of the problem: They put them in the unprogrammed funds and then those included in the programmed funds are flood control, road networks, ayuda,” Punongbayan told One News’s “Storycon” on Thursday.

“The priorities of the administration could have been steered toward the direction of these rolling projects and big-ticket infra projects, but it was a lost opportunity. Until now, the programs and projects are super delayed,” he stressed.

Unprogrammed appropriations serve as standby funds that can only be tapped if the government collects excess revenues or secures additional foreign loans or grants.

For the 2027 proposed budget, the Marcos administration is seeking a “historic low” P119.98 billion in unprogrammed funds.

Proposing big-ticket projects at the fifth or sixth year of a President would mean the next administration would have to handle their implementation, Punongbayan pointed out, but that might be hindered if a Chief Executive’s successor has different plans.

For Punongbayan, this demonstrates that the Philippines lacks long-term strategies because of shifting priorities whenever there’s a change in leadership.

“It goes back to the long-term strategy. We won’t be able to answer this in the next five or six years. We need to think 10, 20 or 30 years down the line. In other words, visionary leadership, I think, is very crucial, and we need to stick to the long-term plans because we have a lot of plans here in the Philippines,” the economist said.