RP to get bigger Millennium grants

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) said the Philippines is set to get bigger grants from the Millennium Challenge Corp. (MCC).

Transportation and Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza said the MCC unanimously selected the Philippines to get “compact-eligible grants under the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) program of the United Nations for 2010.

Mendoza said, the decision was made by the MCC board during its meeting on Dec. 9, 2009. This means the Philippines will be entitled to bigger five-year grants from the MCC, he said.

It was learned that the MCC mainly gives out two kinds of grants namely “compact” and “threshold” programs.

The DOTC explained that compact programs are large, five-year grants for countries that pass MCC’s eligibility criteria. Threshold programs are smaller grants awarded to countries that come close to passing these criteria and are firmly committed to improving their policy performance.

It was learned that the DOTC’s efforts to institute good governance and fight corruption has contributed to the achievement.

Executive Secretary and Millenium Challenge Account (MCA) task force chairman Eduardo Ermita congratulated recently the DOTC for its contribution to the MCC grant.

According to Ermita, the reselection was a result of collective and unified efforts between the government, “...of which your agency (DOTC) has greatly contributed, and the private sector.”

“Your department’s active involvement, through Undersecretary Anneli R. Lontoc and Dir. Ildefonso T. Patdu, Jr., in addressing the concerns of the MCC, particularly on instituting good governance and fighting corruption, is highly commendable,” Mendoza said in a letter.