Experts to Duterte admin: ‘Make every penny count’

THE Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) is keen on extending $3 billion worth of funding support to the Philippines this year.

In a TV interview, ADB Philippines Country Director Kelly Bird said the amount would be used to help the government finance various infrastructure projects this year.

Bird said the ADB is also be providing policy-based lending to the Philippine government for budget support. These funds, Bird said, can help the country recover from the recession.

“We are here and remain committed to support the Philippines in getting through this pandemic,” Bird said. “The pandemic carries a lot of unknowns particularly on the economy and on the social sector and that is why ADB remains fully committed to supporting the Philippines through this pandemic.”

Apart from this, Bird said the ADB is also working with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) on co-financing other projects in the Philippines. Discussions for these future projects are still ongoing.

The ADB and AIIB co-financed the $700-million loan recently extended to the Philippines for vaccine procurement and distribution. This is on top of the $500-million loan extended by the World Bank for the same purpose.

He said ADB’S efforts to help the country fight the pandemic includes the $125 million extended for medical supplies equipment and renovations to isolation wards last year; $10 million to provide food support to 160,000 family in Manila during the lockdown last year and a $3-million grant for the JB Lingad Memorial Hospital.

Recently, he said, ADB provided a $2-million grant to support the Department of Education with their Last Mile schools, providing equipment to poor children in remote areas for the distance learning.

“We are now moving from that relief stage of last year and we are moving on to that rebuild stage,” Bird said.

On Monday, local economists stressed the need to “make every penny count,” especially at this time when Covid-19 cases are rising and a new stimulus may be needed to help Filipinos weather the crisis.

Former University of the Philippines School of Economics Dean Ramon Clarete agreed and told the Businessmirror that making every peso count should always be the national government priority.

Clarete said relying on borrowings is not enough to meet all the government’s needs, especially in this crisis. This now requires the Duterte administration to prioritize its spending.

Prioritizing resources, in the view of Action for Economic Reforms (AER) Coordinator Filomeno Sta. Ana III, could mean reducing spending for funding to the police and military as well as to intelligence and counterinsurgency.

These funds, Sta. Ana told the Businessmirror, should then be channeled to the country’s health and social protection needs.

Former Dean of the University of the Philippines School of Labor and Industrial Relations Rene E. Ofreneo agreed and said the national government should avoid spending on “wasteful projects, borrowing just to keep the Central Bank happy with its reserves.”

Ofreneo said stimulus spending can be done to finance efforts to rebuild-renew-retrofit communities of the poor. This includes urban poor, rural poor, periurban poor, coastal poor, and upland poor.