“Instead of undertaking separate projects, let us get our act together and fund local development initiatives [rather than] relying on foreign loans which have such a long gestation period,” Angara suggested to Roxas during the Finance Committee budget hearing on Monday.
The senator pointed out that Japan’s foreign aid, for instance, normally takes years from origination to implementation. “Korea’s financial aid might be faster but still carries the risk of extending beyond the Aquino administration,” he said.
Angara recommended that Roxas spearhead fresh initiatives to “consolidate all sources of income from this sector—from air, water and land transport—and use it to fund local development projects.”
He noted that DOTC’s 2012 projects amount to more than P26 billion, which when coupled with about P50 billion of internally generated income from attached government-owned and -controlled corporations, “will give us a good-sized infrastructure budget.”
Angara, who sits as vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, explained that this unification of government agencies related to transport would ensure that the proposed development projects are in line with national infrastructure plans. He also urged the Department of Transportation and Communications to collaborate more closely with the Department of Public Works and Highways on infrastructure development.
According to Angara, Roxas could push for this measure immediately and assured the transportation secretary of congressional support for this undertaking.
“As the head of the trimodal transport system in the Philippines, you [Roxas] have the right to orchestrate the use and utilization of all that money, and pool it together to create this development fund to ensure the realization of all the infra projects of the Aquino administration,” The Senator said. “We in Congress are ready to provide support should this measure require special legislation.”
Angara added that “this will also attract direct investments and address the lack of infrastructure in the country. We currently rank 105th out of 142 countries in terms of infrastructure competitiveness. This directly affects the number of jobs we create, as well as the development of our countryside. We have to be serious about turning this around.”
At the same time, Angara assured the transportation secretary that the Finance Committee would uphold the agency’s proposed 2012 allocation “not just because Secretary Roxas is a former colleague, but because we need to support infrastructure development measures.”
