Pernia recommends tapping PPP, ODA from other countries

MANILA, Philippines — The government should consider dropping official development assistance (ODA) from China and instead tap other countries and the private sector for infrastructure projects instead, former socioeconomic planning chief Ernesto Pernia said, after the government canceled loan applications for railway projects.

“If I were asked, I would just drop ODA from China,” Pernia said in an interview with ANC yesterday, when asked to comment on the government’s cancellation of loan applications with China for the Calamba-Bicol, Subic-Clark and Mindanao railways after Beijing failed to act on the documents filed by the Philippines.

He said the government should consider tapping the private sector or ODA from other countries such as Japan, South Korea, the United States as well as those from the European Union for infrastructure development projects.

“I think China is just dribbling the ball and that’s because of the quid pro quo policy of China. You know, they are willing to give us something, but they need something in return,” he said.

In particular, he said China does not want the Philippines to continue to talk about its claim on parts of the South China Sea.

“They promised something like 20 projects in 2016 when we went there – a total of $9 billion. But so far, they have only given us $600 million,” Pernia said.

Earlier, President Marcos ordered the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to renegotiate the loans for the three railway projects.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said the Chinese government welcomes Marcos’ instruction to the DOTr to discuss the projects with China.

“We will coordinate seamlessly with the new Philippine government on this, move the projects forward, explore new projects while implementing existing ones, and launch more projects that will set new benchmarks for our cooperation and help upgrade Philippine infrastructure in both traditional and emerging sectors,” Wang said.

While the government is pursuing negotiations with China, Finance Undersecretary Mark Dennis Joven earlier said the government was also considering other funding sources.

Pernia said pursuing the Build Build Build program for infrastructure development is seen as the best way to push the country’s economic growth to high levels.

“I am also quite cautiously optimistic about the economic growth this year. I think six to 6.5 percent [growth] is achievable this year,” he said.

The government has set a 6.5 to 7.5 percent gross domestic product growth target for this year.

While infrastructure development is seen as important, Pernia believes what should be prioritized is human development by addressing the education, health and food crisis.

“I think that should be the primordial concern of the government and of the Philippine society because we want our people to be able to realize their full potential,” he said.