WHEN the short list for the position of DOTC (Department of Transportation and Communication) secretary narrowed down to former Sen. Mar Roxas, former DOTC secretary (during Cory Aquino’s era) Oscar Orbos and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) head Joel Villanueva both said the best choice had to be Roxas.
One of the economic juggernauts to be unleashed by the Aquino administration of 13 priority projects falls under the so-called Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) worth P100 billion, mostly under the auspices of the DOTC. (NAIA3, MRT and three airports).
That is a lot of money. One needs a technocrat to deliver the plate and the Wall Street worker and Wharton School of Finance graduate Liberal Party president Roxas fits the bill to a T. He will speak the same language and entice future private investors to join the PPP party.
At the same time, being a Senior Member of the Economic Cluster of the Cabinet, the Capiz-born technocrat will be able to wangle the counterpart funds of government for the PPP, working as he does with the likes of the chief of the National Economic and Development Authority, the Finance secretary and the governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. It helps that Budget Secretary Butch Abad reports to him as an LP member.
Moreover, having campaigned on an anti-graft slogan with P-Noy in the 2010 presidential polls, on the least, if he were to be true to the campaign promise, Mar will have to clean up the stable of DOTC which is not the cleanest there is.
On the macro level, since the PPP is both a combination of government expenditure and private sector investment, its completion will improve the sagging GDP figures of the country, which plummeted to only 5 percent in the first quarter, compared to the 8.4 percent of a similar quarter in 2010.
One may argue there was a lot of useless electioneering in 2010, but 5-percent GDP growth is not the 7-percent targeted goal of this government to combat poverty till up to 2016.
The PPP route, practiced for decades in many countries as a vehicle for progress, must be exploited by Roxas, also a former DTI head, to inject adrenaline to the anemic Philippine economy.
For one thing, transferring these infrastructure projects partly to the private sector helps solve the country’s deficit up to the extent that the government does not have to allot funds for them. It puts more resources on the table. For another, it transfers the risk and the operational project responsibility to the private sector, known to run business better than government (in this country).
There is that de facto sovereign risk “guarantee” in the sense that (say) 20 years down the road, ownership goes fully (or remains) to/with the government while assuring investors the appropriate return on investments through specialized edicts, legislation or tax breaks,
It is Roxas’ equal responsibility to see to it that the public interest is protected in this PPP project-more than assuring the investors a fair shake on their equity bets. Because of the massive capital build up for the PPP projects (and therefore potentially huge returns), the challenge remains to prevent the bidding processes in the PPP to be another alter to nurture a new breed of crony capitalists.
That will be the antithesis of the morality play that the Aquino-Roxas team sold to the public in their bid for power in 2010. A short-changed people will thence become an angry people.
Doubtless, the DOTC challenge is daunting for even a guy like Roxas who had done corporate life and experienced the executive and legislative sides of government. The inept MRT operations, the shameful NAIA 3 conditions, the LTO-Stradcom imbroglio and the controversial P11-billion “roll on, roll off” expansion are enough reasons for Roxas to grow more white hair.
But there is an upside to that.
The DOTC appointment sidetracked Roxas away from the” snake pit” of the Palace where a much talked-about Chief of Staff position would have brought him to a potential turf problem with Executive Secretary Jojo Ochoa. Every small act and word between the two will be magnified by the media and placed as today’s “intrigue” story.
That is bad for Roxas, the politician between the two.
A perfect PPP execution will bring “pogi “ points to Roxas’ bio-data needed for his expected run for a 2013 senate slot, a feat that can generate media mileage in order to possibly outdo vote-getter senators Loren Legarda (two-time Senate top notcher) and Chiz Escudero.
Topping the Senate race will mean Roxas fortifies his bid for the presidency in 2016, a seat he had graciously given to the son of Cory (Noynoy) in 2010.
In that sense, “throwing “ Roxas to the DOTC instead of the Chief of Staff position is like throwing a turtle from land to the sea. It is a natural habitat.
