THE Commission on Appointments (CA) on Wednesday confirmed Mar Roxas’s appointment as secretary of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC).
Roxas was appointed by President Aquino effective July 1. He earlier made public the DOTC’s half-a-trillion-peso transport infrastructure program over the next five years.
He vowed to implement Mr. Aquino’s 5R criteria in implementing an infrastructure project—the Right project, at the Right cost, at the Right quality, with the Right people and Right on time.
Roxas vowed that passenger safety will be a primordial concern under his administration. With the Philippines being a country known globally to have been among the nations with the worst sea disasters, he said the government should invest in modern communications, highly reliable remote-sensor technology, and signaling devices that will raise its transportation-safety standard to international levels.
Over his initial 90-day as secretary, he has initiated reconfiguration of deals for contracts deemed to have onerous provisions, including the NorthRail Project and the Roll-On Roll-Off port project.
He also started a litigation process to recover the government’s rightful share over unauthorized collection of the Land Transportation Office’s information-technology provider Stradcom amounting to an estimated P2 billion.
Roxas earlier announced a revision in the public-private partnership scheme that falls under the supervision of his agency. He said financing government’s transport infrastructure program may turn out to be substantially cheaper with official development assistance (ODA) funding, considering ODA funds carry highly concessionary rates of just 1 percent yearly payable over a period of up to 30 years. This is significantly lower than private financing carrying 5-percent to 7-percent yearly interest and with payment term of a shorter 10 years.
The DOTC has started establishing rapport with ODA multilateral agency providers for speedy release of funds while also intensifying coordination with local agencies associated with funding and project approval and release.
During the confirmation proceeding, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile took note of the sacrifice Roxas subjected himself into when he gave way for Mr. Aquino to run as president as an official candidate of the Liberal Party.
“For him to give up that opportunity opened to him in 2010 to run for the highest position of the land and to think of country more than self I think is a mark of true leadership for a man who would like to be of service to his country and people,” Enrile said.
