The Phl PPP program

This is in relation to Mr. Frederico Pascual’s article entitled “Time to update mutual defense treaty with US, which appeared in the Philippine STAR on May 6, 2014 under his column Postscript. Part of the column talked about the Philippine PPP Program and the PPP Center.

We wish to clarify two main points raised in Mr. Pascual’s column with the end view of providing your readers updated and official information about the Philippine PPP Program and the PPP Center.

First, the column stated that, “ ... But after his midterm passed and still no sails of his PPP flagship could be seen on the horizon, some mischievous businessmen started calling it his Power Point Presentation.”

We are happy to share with you that since its inception in 2010, the PPP Program has in fact already awarded seven PPP projects with total estimated cost of $1.39 billion. These are the Daang-Hari SLEX Link and NAIA Expressway projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways, the Department of Transportation and Communications’ Automatic Fare Collection System and Mactan Cebu International Airport projects, Department of Health’s (DOH) Modernization of the Philippine Orthopedic Center project, and Department of Education’s (DepEd) PPP for School Infrastructure Project Phases I and II. All these projects were undertaken through the BOT law or RA 7718 and its Implementing Rules and Regulations.

In fact, the PPP program maintains a robust pipeline of more than 50 PPP projects in various stages of procurement, structuring, review and development. We invite you and your readers to check our website for this pipeline as well as the recent comparative matrix on PPP projects pursued under the BOT Law during the Ramos, Estrada, Arroyo and Aquino administrations.

Further, Mr. Pascual’s column stated: “There is actually a PPP Center complete with key officials. By virtue of Executive Order 8, series of 2010, the Center is mandated to facilitate PPP program and projects. It is obviously not functioning as envisioned. “

As the main coordination and monitoring agency of the country’s PPP Program, the Center is heavily invested in the task of rolling out PPP projects by providing technical assistance to Implementing Agencies (lAs) and Local Government Units (LGUs) technical assistance in all aspects of PPP project development, capacity building, policy and process improvements as well as monitoring and evaluation.

The Center also manages the Project Development and Monitoring Facility (PDMF) which provides lAs access to international firms and experts to provide, assist them in the preparation of feasibility studies, bidding documents and transaction advisory during the actual procurement processes.

We have mounted capacity building programs for these IAs/LGUs and PPP knowledge products (e.g. manuals, guidelines, templates, etc) have been developed for them and all other PPP stakeholders.

The Center has also spearheaded necessary policy and process improvements in the way these IAs/LGUs do PPPs. These include policy issuances on right-of-way acquisition for PPPs as well as dispute resolution among parties in PPP contracts. In collaboration with the concerned agencies, the Center initiated the proposed amendments to the BOT Law into the PPP Act, now undergoing committee deliberations at the lower house. The proposed PPP Act, supported by both public and private stakeholders, will institutionalize policy, process and institutional reforms and improvements in undertaking PPPs in the country.

This central role of the PPP Center has been recognized not just by lAs and LGUs who continually approach the Center for various forms of technical assistance. It has also been acknowledged by development partners (i.e. ADB, CIDA, AusAid, WB, etc) as the appropriate catalyst for a strong PPP Program. This is evidenced by their numerous technical assistance interventions for PPP project development and structuring, procurement, capacity building, policy and institutional reforms - all coursed through the PPP Center.

In the ASEAN Connectivity Program, the PPP Center has also been referred to as a resource institution regularly requested to provide inputs and share its experience and innovations with its ASEAN neighbors and their respective PPP programs and projects. The 2011 Infrascope Study commissioned by the ADB/ which named the Philippines most PPP-ready in the ASEAN, noted the significant presence of a central PPP coordination and monitoring agency — the PPP Center.

Finally, the 2014 Partnership Awards of the prestigious Partnerships Bulletin, a UK-based infernational PPP organization tracking PPP programs and projects worldwide, shortlisted the Philippine PPP Center to the “Best Central/Regional Government PPP Promoter.’ The Philippines is the lone Asian in the said category alongside finalist PPP agencies from Maryland, Texas and California in the US, Croatia, Puerto Rico, Scotland and Brazil.

All the information about the PPP Program and the PPP Center can be accessed from our official website, www.ppp.gov.ph. We invite everyone to visit the site for official, updated and accurate information about both the Program and the Center.

— ELEAZAR E. RICOTE, Director IV, PPP Center