IN a recent interview, incoming Budget Secretary Benjamin F. Diokno slammed what he called the Aquino administration’s penchant to hold back on infrastructure spending. He said that will not happen in the Duterte administration, which will officially start its six-year mandate in exactly a week from today.
Diokno said he would encourage President-elect Duterte to increase infra expenses to as much as 7 percent of GDP versus the Aquino administration’s 2016 target of 5 percent. Isn’t almost half of the annual budget of trillions of pesos already allocated/disbursed? Diokno is undaunted. “The Duterte administration will not spend money for spending’s sake,” Diokno recently told the Inquirer. “The economy is deficient in all types of infrastructure—highways and bridges, ports and airports.”
Diokno said he would zero in on “small-, medium- and large-scale projects that will be done in all regions—both highly developed and lagging.” He emphasized that he would do it “simultaneously, not sequentially.”
In the same interview, Diokno said he would seriously address the problem of underspending on public goods and services that became the practice during the last two years.
“First of all, I will put a lot of effort in budget preparation,” Diokno said. “I know that underspending is partly due to poor budget preparation. Many programs and projects are included in the annual budget, yet they are not ready to implement them. Some departments ask for a budget that they are unable to implement: They bite more than what they can chew.”
I like what I hear from Diokno. And I strongly feel he will walk the talk. I’ve known him for decades, beginning from the day we were regular bus seatmates in Japan when we were both guests of Toyota Motor Philippines to the Tokyo Motor Show (Was that in 1999 or 2001?).
Underspending has long been the scourge of this nation, not only Aquino’s administration but beginning yet with P-Noy’s mom’s government from 1986 to 1992. Driven by a desire to leave “huge savings” behind when she leaves Malacañang, Tita Cory held back spending to the detriment of infra development. As every motor animal would know, infrastructure is a major component of growth in the car world. Before the birth of the interstate freeway that was pioneered in large part by Henry Ford in the Roaring Twenties, America’s motoring industry was nothing but a horse-and-carriage modality.
As expected, Toyota is tops
HALFWAY into 2016, Toyota Motor Philippines continued to dominate with its market-leading 42.95-percent share of 57,756 units sold from January to May. Mitsubishi took second as usual with 18.29 percent (24,601 units); followed by Ford, 10.38 percent (13,961 units); Isuzu, 8.04 percent (10,819 units) and Honda, 6.69 percent (8,991).
As I keep saying here, the staggering 30 percent rise in overall sales for the same period was mainly triggered by the May 9 national elections that sparked fleet buying by the moneyed for the politicians’ use in the campaign trails. With the Avanza now seemingly Duterte’s anointed ride for the President’s Men, Toyota might yet emerge anew as the runaway sales winner at year’s end.
In May alone some 30,157 units were sold. From January to May, total units sold: 134,328. Suddenly, the projected 350,000 vehicles sold for the year is chicken feed.
Petron-DOE partnership
HATS off to the car companies that received Fuel Economy Ratings in the recent Petron-Department of Energy event: Mahindra, Volkswagen, BAIC, Mazda, British United Automobiles Inc., Kia, Peugeot, Ford, Foton, Honda, Hyundai, Isuzu, Mitsubishi, Motor Subaru, Nissan, Audi/Porsche, Tata, Suzuki, Chevrolet, Toyota and Volvo. Their cars passed a 280-kilometer test run from Petron-Angeles City, Pampanga, to SCTEx-TPLEx and back in a controlled run to approximate standard driving conditions. Certificates were given during a presentation ceremony at the Makati Diamond Residences. The event’s success reaffirmed Petron’s massive $2-billion investment to upgrade its Bataan refinery, even as Petron prides itself as the only oil company capable of locally producing environment-friendly and premium fuels while assuring Filipino motorists of a steady supply of fuel variants that meet global standards. Cheers!
PEE STOP. After the much-admired Muhammad Ali tribute of Danny “Sir John” Isla, the Lexus Manila president, appeared here last week, there was a call for more of that. So from Ray Butch “Elvis” Gamboa, Motoring Today founder: “Ali fights with the brute strength of an ox and the grace of a gazelle—a perfect combination of brute and grace. Nothing less than poetry in motion.” From Mel Dizon, the former vice president of Mitsubishi Motors: “So great is Ali’s imprint on our consciousness that when someone has a resemblance, we say immediately, ‘Si Ali, si Ali!’ Indeed, there are a lot of our kabayans who resemble Ali. For the many Ali lookalikes out there, ‘Mabuhay!’ P.S. My boss, Fred Turingan, is one of them. Ali ng-Ali. But don’t put him in your book this way. I still want to live.” And, finally, from Vince Socco, the Filipino top gun at Toyota Motors Japan: “Ali is simply The Greatest. Enough said.” I thought simplicity would be the most eloquent tribute to the world’s greatest boxer.