Pres. Duterte Secures Highest Foreign Aid At P1-T In PH History In Only 7 Months Of His Administration
President Rodrigo Duterte has
raised the highest amount of Official Development Assistance for the
Philippines at close to P1 Trillion in only seven months of his administration.
This was disclosed by Finance Secretary
Carlos Dominguez during the 49th Annual Installation of Officers and Board of
Trustees of the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCCII) on
Saturday night, January 14 at the Marco Polo Hotel in Davao City.
Dominguez said this is the highest
amount raised by any new Presidents of the country in history. The amount was
raised only from July 2016 to the present from two of the world’s biggest
economies.
In a press briefing after the
DCCCII event, Dominguez said the total ODA covers only the foreign assistance
from China amounting to $9 Billion and Japan’s offer of $9 Billion (One
Trillion Yen). These are voluntary offers from China and Japan and not requests
from the Philippine government.
“I’m only counting the amounts from
China and the amounts from Japan. Both of them are roughly US-billion a piece,
which is about 18 Trillion. And there are some more ODA that we have received
but I haven’t counted in from various other countries,” Dominguez explained.
He said the total amount does not
count trade deals like the $15 Billion private commercial deals between the
Philippines and China.
According to Dominguez, ODA means
government-provided financial loans for infrastructure projects with generally
low interest rates and long term payment.
On Monday, Dominguez said they are
going to start lining up projects to be funded by ODA and also discuss in
details the terms of the assistance offered by Japan.
Since Japanese ODA is a fresh
offer, Dominguez said they still need to consult their counterparts in the
Japanese government whether their priorities match with the Philippines.
“And I am pretty sure they will,”
Dominguez added.
While they will still discuss on
the table the One-Trillion-Yen assistance offered by Japan, Dominguez said they
already submitted a list of projects to China last November 29, 2016. Sometime
this January, they will travel to China to discuss how to progress the projects
submitted to them.
Among these are the rehabilitation
of the Agus River project, the irrigation projects in the Autonomous Region in
Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and a seaport in Cebu.
On why the country is receiving
such big offers, Dominguez said, “Maybe they see that the money will be truly
used for people.”
He added that these countries see
lots of potentials in the economy under the Duterte administration.
“I think they see a lot of potential
in the Philippine economy,” Dominguez said.
He said these are potential for the
growth of the Philippine economy and a potential for the two countries to do
business here.
He cited as an example Calabarzon
(Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon), which saw a lot of infrastructure
developments during the term of President Corazon Aquino.
Dominguez, who has served the Cory
administration, said the Calabarzon area was mostly financed by Japanese ODA
funds. He said Calabarzon opened many Japanese companies to relocate in the
industrial estates.
“So we are looking forward to a
similar move but probably do this integrated area development projects farther
away from the greater Manila or the Mega Manila area,” he said.
Dominguez said the government is
targeting Mindanao, the North, beyond Pampanga and those areas to develop the
infrastructure and allow companies to locate, create jobs, as well as exports
for the country.
The Finance Chief, however,
emphasized that infrastructure developments would not only cover physical
projects but also education, training and other services that will make workers
and citizens more competitive abroad.
“So it’s not only hard
infrastructure but also education, science and technology,” he added.
Pres. Duterte Secures Highest Foreign Aid At P1-T In PH History In Only 7 Months Of His Administration
Reviewed by Yen
on
January 16, 2017
Rating:
Post a Comment