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IN hopes
of avoiding donor-driven projects, the government is set
to create a fund to help implementing agencies
prioritize government projects that will be presented to
the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda)
Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) for approval.
Neda Deputy Director General Rolando
Tungpalan said the amount for the Project Development
Fund (PDF) is still being studied by the Department of
Budget and Management (DBM). However, Tungpalan said,
the Neda, together with the DBM, has already approved
the concept for the fund.
“We hope to [carry it out] to support
implementing agencies in building up funds to ensure the
quality of proposals and preparedness [of agencies to
present project designs to the ICC],” he explained.
The creation of the fund will enhance
the government’s capability in meeting the targets set
under the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. As a
signatory of the Paris Declaration, the Philippines is
mandated to attain 12 aid-effectiveness indicators by
2010 and 2015. Some of these indicators include
strengthening capacity, using public financial and using
local procurement systems, Tungpalan added.
The fund will also form part of the
government efforts to improve its use of local and
international funds by drafting the Implementing Rules
and Regulations-B (IRR-B) for all government projects.
Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya said
that the IRR-B will be finished in a year’s time. In the
meantime, the government will apply the procurement
rules of the World Trade Organization, (WTO) despite the
fact that the Philippines is not a signatory to the WTO
Agreement on Government Procurement.
The existing WTO agreement extends the
coverage of government procurement to services
(including construction services), procurement at the
subcentral level (for example, states, provinces,
departments and prefectures), and procurement by public
utilities.
It also reinforces rules guaranteeing
fair and nondiscriminatory conditions of international
competition. As such, governments are required to put in
place domestic procedures to allow aggrieved private
bidders to challenge procurement decisions and obtain
redress in the event such decisions were made
inconsistently with the rules of the agreement.
In a recent forum, former Neda director
general Dante Canlas said that while the government
receives a sizable amount of ODA, most foreign aid comes
in the form of funds from donor agencies who relate with
the government on a project-basis.
Canlas said an example would be loans
coming from
China,
which, to this day, has no country program implemented
in the country and deals with the government on a
“projectized” basis.
He also said the government should also
assert its authority by subjecting all government
projects to international competitive bidding,
particularly for projects that will be funded by loans. |
