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PRIVATE think tank
Center
for National Policy and Strategy (CNAPS) expressed its
disappointment over the 2004 to 2010 Medium-Term
Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP) and moved to finish
its own 10-year economic blueprint by the end of the
year.
CNAPS is
a nonpartisan, interdisciplinary and multistakeholder
community of scholars and committed practitioners
dedicated to the collection, organization and synthesis
of the most policy-relevant ideas, both local and
global.
The
organization is predominantly composed of University of
the Philippines economists and former National Economic
and Development Authority (Neda) directors general. It
is also supported by PLDT-Smart Foundation chairman
Manuel Pangilinan.
CNAPS
chairman and former dean of the UP School of Economics
Raul Fabella told the BusinessMirror that the MTPDP is
merely a “wishlist” of the government and not a “doable”
plan.
“Clearly, the MTPDP is a terrible document. The MTPDP is
an example of what not to do and how not to do it,”
Fabella said in an interview during the launch of the
CNAPS web site in
Makati City
on Friday.
CNAPS
president and former Neda director general Felipe
Medalla said that the current MTPDP only reflected the
President’s “propaganda” and that some of the plans
indicated in the MTPDP is not needed by the country.
An
example of which is the transfer of various departments
of government in different parts of the country. Medalla
said doing this will only prevent agencies from working
together and coordinating with each other.
He also
said the blueprint that CNAPS will create will not
include suggesting projects that would cater to
political ambitions of officials. Medalla said an
example of this is the
Panglao Airport,
which he said was only made to get the approval of
Bohol
congressmen.
Medalla
said that instead of creating an airport, the land
should instead be used for other purposes like
agriculture.
Though
the details of the economic blueprint have yet to be
discussed by CNAPS in detail, the think tank said it
will also not include economic targets, but will focus
on specific steps to achieve higher and sustainable
economic growth.
Fabella
said the blueprint will be a “catalytic package to
obtain higher growth for the future.”
Pangilinan, in his speech during the event, said that
among his reasons why he chose to support CNAPS is
because he has yet to see a privately funded think tank
which thought about the country’s future and there was
no economic blueprint that Filipinos understood.
He said
that through CNAPS, he believes that the economic
blueprint that it will create will be able to translate
the needs of the country into an effective economic
plan. |
