President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s plan to kick-start 194 high-impact projects worth P9 trillion “is the forward-thinking needed to erase the country’s infrastructure backlog,” House Deputy Speaker Ralph Recto said.
“That is grand vision on the infrastructure side that the nation needs,” Recto said.
As is the nature of grand projects, construction will be “multi-year, multi-administration” which means that “in curating projects, he doesn’t care if the next administration will inaugurate it for as long that it began during his term,” Recto said.
“This is a departure from the tendency that projects must bear ‘best before election’ completion dates, so when inaugurated, they can be milked for reelection purposes,” he said.
“When the planning cycle follows the election calendar, we are left with piecemeal construction. The tragic result is chop-chop development and progress in small increments. And the President rejects this model by adopting the NEDA list,” Recto said.
But Recto said that when the list of the 194 projects is finally made public, each should carry “a fiscal scorecard” which would contain “sources of financing and tax incentives granted.”
“Uutangin ba ‘yan or galing internal revenues through the budget? Ano ba ang debt component ng bawat isa? ODA o commercial loan?” Recto said.
“If it is via any of the accepted PPP modes, what would be the government guarantee and the contingent liability?” he said.
Contingent liabilities are risks assumed by the government in a project, “and this hidden fiscal risk, this part of the debt iceberg that is under water” should be subjected to prudential limits, Recto said.
“For joint venture projects, there should be end-user affordability consultations, kasi kung sobrang mahal ang singil o toll o pasahe, at ang resulta hindi gagamitin ng tao, papasanin ng gobyerno ‘yung kulang sa guaranteed ridership halimbawa,” Recto said.
“Successor administrations and generations, future Filipinos, should not be saddled with debts due to contracts skewed in favor of private parties,” he said.
“Ang ating dapat ipamana ay magandang proyekto at hindi mabigat na utang,” Recto said.
He, however, said “that there is nothing wrong in seeking financing for projects, and debt for projects is not a bad thing because our current resources cannot finance growth.”
“To be timid in seeking financing is a formula for stagnation,” he said.
From P6.090 trillion as of end of 2016, the national government debt more than doubled to P13.14 trillion by end of 2022, as the pandemic lowered tax take while boosting expenditures to fight off the social and economic damages it wrought.