MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: [COVERAGE CUT] … Department of Transportation – Jose Briones, Jr, Deputy Administration III, Office for Transportation Security; Jose Carillo, Director IV, Office for Transportation Security; Rodelio Jocson, Director IV, Office for Transportation Security; Danilo Macerin, Director IV, Office for Transportation Security.
And government-owned or controlled corporations – Arsenio Bartolome III, Acting Member, Board of Directors, National Development Company; Franz Josef George Alvarez, Member, Board of Director, Philippine National Oil Company Exploration Corporation; Edgar Benedict C. Cutiongco, Member, Board of Directors, Philippine National Oil Company Exploration Corporation; Rafael E. del Pilar, Member, Board of Directors, Philippine National Oil Company Exploration Corporation; and Arthur Saldivar-Sali, also a Member, Board of Directors, Philippine National Oil Company Exploration Corporation; Romeo O. Solis Jr., also a Member, Board of Directors, PNOC Exploration Corporation; Adrian Ferdinand S. Sugay, Member, Board of Directors, PNOC.
And that is the end of today’s appointment list. Medyo marami ‘no, but we will release that as well.
So bukod dito, Kaninang umaga ay pinulong ni Pangulong Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. ang NEDA Board para pag-usapan ang guidelines sa implementation at listahan ng mga proyekto na kabilang sa infrastructure priority projects ng administrasyon, ito ay upang siguruhin na aligned ito sa mga layunin ng Philippine Development Plan 2028.
Kasama rin sa pinag-usapan ang mga rekomendasyon ng NEDA Board para sa pag-amyenda ng 2013 Joint Venture or JV Guidelines; at para ipaliwanag ang mga ito, kasama natin ngayon si NEDA Director General at Socioeconomic and Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan. Secretary Balisacan, good morning.
NEDA DG BALISACAN: Media Briefer Daphne Paez, members of the Malacañang Press Corps, good morning.
I am pleased to announce that the National Economic and Development Authority Board chaired by President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos, Jr. during its fourth meeting today approved two game-changing initiatives that aim to further raise investments and transform the Philippine economic landscape. These are the government’s new list of infrastructure flagship projects or IFPs and the amendments to the 2013 NEDA Joint Venture or JV Guidelines.
The approved new list of infrastructure flagship projects includes a total of 194 projects amounting to about nine trillion pesos. Majority of these infrastructure flagship projects are in physical connectivity and water resources which include projects in irrigation, water supply and flood management.
The list also includes projects in digital connectivity, health, power and energy, agriculture and other infrastructure.
Some of the new projects included in the new list are the Panay Railway Project; Mindanao Railway Project III; North Long Haul Railway; San Mateo Railway; UP-PGH Diliman Project; Ninoy Aquino International Airport Rehabilitation Project; Ilocos Sur Transbasin Project; and the Metro Cebu Expressway.
Aligned with the priorities under the 8-Point Socioeconomic Agenda of President Marcos administration and the plans outlined in the Philippine Development Plan for 2023-2028, these high impact and urgently needed infrastructure projects aim to showcase the government’s Build Better More Program.
The new IFPs are seen to address the binding constraints to business investment and expansion that will create more high quality and resilient jobs that will allow us to meet our poverty reduction goals for the medium-term.
IFPs shall be prioritized under the government’s annual budget preparation and enjoy the benefits of expedited issuance of applicable permits and licenses consistent with current legal frameworks.
These projects will adopt an optimal mix of financing from various development partners, that is ODA, the national government and this general appropriations and the private sector, particularly public-private partnerships.
To hasten the rollout of these projects, the Marcos administration is strongly promoting the utilization of public-private partnerships or PPPs, one of the crosscutting strategies likewise identified in the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028. Forty-five of these IFPs are seen to be financed through partnerships with the private sector. The government shall harness the financial and technical resources of the private sector which allows the public sector to allocate its funds for greater investment in human capital development, especially to address the scarring in health and education due to the pandemic, and provide targeted assistance that protects vulnerable sectors from economic shocks.
To ensure the quality and timeliness of project execution, the NEDA Board designated NEDA as the lead agency that will monitor the implementation of the IFPs as part of its program monitoring function pursuant to Executive Order # 230. The list of IFPs will be posted publicly on the NEDA website and social media accounts for your reference.
Second, the NEDA Board approved the proposed amendments to the 2013 NEDA Joint Venture Guidelines. The NEDA will process the issuance of the revised JV Guidelines in accordance with Section 8 of Executive Order 423 series of 2005. The amendments aim to enhance competition for projects under joint ventures, ensure better performance of private sector participants, and improve check and balances to ensure that the project is technically and financially sound.
The amendments shall also ensure that the guidelines are aligned with the provisions of the recently amended Build Operate Transfer or BOT Law Implementing Rules and Regulations, and the proposed amendments to the BOT Law or PPP Act pending in Congress but which are expected to be passed by this year.
The Marcos administration’s thrust for infrastructure shall enable the transformation of the Philippine economic landscape within the next six years. Recognizing that our country has much work to do to catch up with our dynamic neighbors in the region, we will pursue high-impact initiatives that aim to encourage greater local and foreign investment and private sector participation in infrastructure development.
Today’s approval of the new IFP list and the amendments to the NEDA JV Guidelines is a giant step towards our goal of elevating our competitiveness as we promote the Philippines as a prime investment destination in the region.
We will connect and integrate markets to enable access to more opportunities for local industries, enhance the productivity of our young and vibrant labor force, and create safer infrastructure for future generations.
Ultimately, we wish to improve the overall quality of life for all Filipinos and empower every citizen to live a matatag, maginhawa at panatag na buhay.
Thank you.
MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: Let me just announce the opening of the floor. Is the microphone already working? Yeah, better? Or it is.
Okay, Maricel Halili, TV 5.
MARICEL HALILI: Hi, sir. Magandang umaga po. Sir, following the approval of the new IFP list, how will this help the unemployment situation in the country?
NEDA DG BALISACAN: Definitely, these IFPs, especially once they are rolled out, implemented will boost employment opportunities because these are investments, these are construction – there will be construction activities, massive construction activities and that will improve the investment climate in the country so that more investors can come in both domestic and foreign, and current investors can expand their operations – those will create jobs. So the whole purpose of putting this in place and to roll them as fast as we can is to generate employment opportunities so that we can also achieve our poverty reduction goal, you know, reduce it to single-digit level by 2028.
MARICEL HALILI: Sir, do we have a rough estimate as to how many Filipinos will benefit from these in terms of employment, gaano karami po iyong puwedeng mabigyan ng trabaho?
NEDA DG BALISACAN: We don’t have specific numbers here. But as we all know when you have major infrastructure projects, directly that will generate employment. But more importantly, those will generate job opportunities because as I said that will reduce the cost of doing business in the country; that will make our investment climate more attractive because then, these so called infrastructure deficits that we have and the gaps between us and our neighbors in terms of the quality and cost of our infrastructure services will be reduced and that improves our attractiveness as an investment destination.
MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: Chona Yu of Inquirer Radyo.
CHONA YU/INQUIRER RADYO: Sir, good morning. 194 projects approved by the NEDA. How many projects are under this administration and what are these projects po?
NEDA DG BALISACAN: There are 123 of those 194 projects that are new, they were initiated and began to be funded during this administration. Some of the examples that I provided earlier like the NAIA rehabilitation; the North Long Haul Railway that should bring the railway from Manila all the way to the Ilocos Region, all the way to the Cagayan Valley; the Metro Cebu Expressway that I mentioned earlier – so, these are just a few of the examples that we have – the 123 in the list and we will be posting this list if not today than probably you’ll get it by tomorrow, we’re just cleaning them up.
CHONA YU/INQUIRER RADYO: Sir, just a follow-up on that. Out of the 123 projects ilan doon ang matatapos under or bago matapos iyong kaniyang administration?
NEDA DG BALISACAN: We don’t have the count yet but the whole intention is to complete many of them as much as possible. But these are long-term projects you know, like the North Long Haul Railway that I mentioned, that will involve several years of development just like what we have with the subway. The subway was started by the Duterte administration, right? And as we see it now maybe we will complete that in 2027, 2028 – so, that’s how, and that’s only Metro Manila. How much more to, you know, bring the railway services all the way to Cagayan Valley?
MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: Okay. Ace Romero, Philippine Star.
ACE ROMERO/PHILIPPINE STAR: So, Secretary, doon sa projects – there are 194 of them, I understand masyadong madami. Can you just give us at least iyong five biggest projects na nandoon sa priority list and how much?
NEDA DG BALISACAN: The priority list again includes the ongoing ones because I have heard the President early on saying that those projects that were initiated/began in the previous administration to the extent that they are useful for the economy, for our society must be continued, and so many of these projects remain flagship projects. Okay? And the big ones there under the previous administration is the subway – that’s going to cost a lot of still, money. The other one although initiated much earlier – this Clark Commuter Railway – Clark to Manila and then all the way to Los Baños – so, these are big ones too. We’ll be pushing as well the railway all the way to the Bicol Region.
I don’t have the amount here with me but you can see that eventually in our website, we’ll be posting the approved list eventually.
ACE ROMERO/PHILIPPINE STAR: So, of those projects, Sec, ilan po iyong kayang matapos next year, iyong mas mabilis matapos? Kasi people will be asking when we can feel the benefit.
NEDA DG BALISACAN: In the next couple of years we shall be seeing many of these already in operational, for example irrigation projects, many of these are irrigation projects; health projects including the Cancer Center that we approved last time – that’s now going and we hope to have that in the next three or four years. Included here also is the another Philippine General Hospital in UP Diliman – those are going to move pretty quickly because those are PPPs, Public-Private Partnership projects, and this will not involve much right-of-way acquisition – so they can be quite quick – where we may be encountering a bit of difficulty will be those areas where we have to acquire right-of-way. But even then part of the approval of the decision and the directive of the Presidente this morning was to ask ARTA to issue or to ensure that the agencies who are involved with issuance of permits, licenses, you know’, that they have to give priority to these IFPs because in the past these have been [the reasons] of some of the bottlenecks – agencies are so slow in issuing the required permits and licenses. We are undoing many of those problems there.
ACE ROMERO/PHILIPPINE STAR: Quick follow-up na lang, Sec. Can you just give us iyong parang basic or main features noong revised guidelines doon sa joint venture? Ano po iyong mga … I supposed, may mga layers na inalis?
NEDA DG BALISACAN: The one that…what we are addressing there is: Number one is to simplify the joint ventures. Again to make sure that the joint ventures can move efficiently and quickly and will address the public interest, concerns. And so the amendments will involve putting in place features that improve the competitive processes in the selection of joint venture partners. So, in other words hindi “lutong Macau” iyong mga JVs kundi you know, properly completed by or offered in competition. There will be proper checks and balances in the governance of JVs, and aligning the rules and the guidelines with the approved guidelines for the BOT Law implementing rules and regulations doon sa PPP guidelines that we approved earlier this year and last year.
So, the PPP governance has been improving and we want to ensure that the guidelines for the JVs will also move in the same direction.
MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: Eden Santos, Net 25.
EDEN SANTOS/NET25: Secretary, good morning po. You said that these infra projects will give quality jobs to Filipinos. What kind of quality jobs are you referring to? Before, kasi po may mga incident na iyong mga contractor partners are bringing their nationals to work doon sa mga infra projects.
NEDA DG BALISACAN: When we say quality jobs, we mean jobs that could provide you decent wages and not just an employment of one hour or two hours a day. You know in our statistics, if you are employed for one hour a day, employed ka na ‘no. And so, we are looking at jobs where wages can really be at a level that will make households/individuals afford a decent living ano, adequate enough to send their children to school, you know to afford basic services.
So in a sense, what that means is we must be able to generate jobs and the only way you can generate jobs that are of high quality is when you get investments. And as I said earlier, one of the constraints faced by our investors or faced by the country in attracting investment is the quality of our infrastructure – the poor quality of our infrastructure and the services, the high cost of doing business in the country, so this infrastructure program is meant to address that infrastructure deficits that we have in this country so that investors can see us as a viable destination for their investment. That way, jobs you know, opportunities can improve.
So if plants, you know, investors come in to setup their factories, there will be more you know, better quality jobs. Better because when you are employed there, it’s eight hours a day, it’s not one hour a day and you get all the benefits that—so those are the kind of jobs that we want, not the jobs that you get. Incidentally, when you are peddling cigarette in the street, that’s a job… but that’s not the kind of job that we would want our children to have.
EDEN SANTOS/NET25: Secretary, another issue lang po ano. Plano po ng TUCP na maghain ng panibagong wage increase petition po. Ang tanong po ay kaya po ba ng gobyerno natin na mapagbigyan ito even iyong kanilang hinihinging cash assistance or ayuda po ulit like iyong CAMP before, sabi nila ngayon tatawagin nilang “BBM Ayuda para sa mga Manggagawang Pilipino or BAMP?
NEDA DG BALISACAN: Ang thrust natin, as much as possible is to generate jobs/opportunities that will last long, a sustainable ‘no. And so that people, our workers can earn a sufficient, they can have wages that they can comfortably support their needs.
So we are aware that there are petitions for minimum wages and there are rules ‘no, the law that need to be factored in, determine… there are factors that need to be considered in the approval of such petitions ‘no. I don’t want to preempt that but certainly one of those conditions that I read in the law is that the decision must take into account the impact of that and the economy, local economies in particular to make sure that you don’t create unnecessary disincentives for… for again, investors to come in here or to investors to expand because you know, you price yourself too high relative to your productivity.
I maintained that—and that the very purpose of this infrastructure program is it helps our workers realize higher productivity when you get this kind of infrastructure support and investment. And that’s what is required to get wages rise on a sustained basis.
MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: Den Osorio, Global Daily Mirror…
DEN OSORIO/GLOBAL DAILY MIRROR: Good afternoon, sir. In view of NEDA’s discouragement in raising minimum wages and with the now proposed number of long term projects, what is the earliest possible prediction of the economy’s state being in equilibrium from inflation following the suggested increase in labor and employment demand?
NEDA DG BALISACAN: What is the equilibrium… As of now, the—this morning you must have seen the new employment data ‘no, and what you have seen in the employment data is unemployment decrease further and the quality of job as indicated in the underemployment data is improving ‘no.
Now, of course while that is happening, we still have the inflation concern ‘no and it’s still a challenge for us to address the inflation and we must, I mean, realistically, the inflation issue is something that cannot be handled very quickly – and I said very quickly – not tomorrow, not… you know.
But we are certainly putting in place measures that will address, that will arrest those upticks in prices and in the meantime also provide assistance to those who are most vulnerable in our society, particularly with respect to food prices.
MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: Thank you, Den. Next we have Ivan Mayrina of GMA-7.
IVAN MAYRINA/GMA7: Secretary, there is a proposal from the Department of Energy to move office hours in government offices from 7 A.M. to 4 P.M. on Mondays to Thursdays and work-from-home arrangements on Fridays. What do you think of this? Will this benefit the economy and how will this impact productivity?
NEDA DG BALISACAN: Well, in general, what that move is trying to address is conservation because as you see, a part of the upticks or the sources of the inflation is the high cost of energy. And we do think that, you know, we can reconfigure our work environments so that we could reduce energy use ‘no. I think there is wisdom to that, in many countries, they do adjust their working time ‘no depending on the season of the year. So I think it’s high time that we do that.
One of the other things that DOE is also pushing for is the wrong temperature – from 24 to 25. Why are we adopting a 24 when it’s so cold here, right? And so, we’re wasting a lot of energy when 25 is supposedly… is comfortable, right? So, I think we can save a lot from doing that.
So with respect to the work-from-home, I think that’s what the pandemic has taught is there are possibilities for that depending on the agency concerned. For those who are basically research-oriented like one of the attached agencies to our office, the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, most of them are on work-from-home because they can do their work there. But for many agencies who are involved in providing services to the public, frontline agencies they can’t do that, right, so you have to be out there. So we have to be a little bit more…
But I think many agencies are already adopting at least once a week work-from-home in so far as I know. So I think it’s really nothing new there but I think the workspace is evolving and we should be amenable to those changes.
IVAN MAYRINA/GMA7: Sorry. Productivity, Secretary? Hindi ho kaya maapektuhan iyong productivity lalo na with one day less of actual, you know, physical work?
NEDA DG BALISACAN: The agencies would have to assess their respective circumstances, whether that will affect their productivity. But, I think what you are pointing out is there are coordination issues that have to be resolved. Like for example, when there are already four days in a week, then all these meetings that previously spread over five days a week will now compressed into four days and that might cause problems. Those meetings will be delayed and so solutions to the problems will be delayed and other inefficiencies will rise. We have to take that into account. That is precisely the kind of argument that I made to my office, NEDA. NEDA is a service agency and we coordinate many meetings, we are the Secretariat of so many agencies, we can’t afford to have a work-from-home. We can’t ask the other agencies to adjust to our schedule. That will introduce inefficiencies in the workplace and the entire government.
MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: Thank you. Alvin Baltazar, PBS.
ALVIN BALTAZAR/PBS: Magandang umaga po, Ma’am Daphne. Secretary, good morning po. Secretary, ask ko lang po kung ano iyong mga problema na ina-anticipate natin amidst the 194 infrastructure projects. Kasi, if I remember righ, Secretary, sa past administration, mukhang nagkaroon sila ng problema doon sa right-of-way. Ano po iyong mga ina-anticipate natin?
NEDA DG BALISACAN: Yeah, in the discussions this morning with the President, we actually presented those issues, the potential risk to delays and we have identified measures that we will need to put in place to ensure that those delays will be minimized. For example, we will be reporting to the President and the NEDA Board quarterly on the progress of these projects. All the agencies who also have projects that are labeled as IFPs are required to report to us every month on the progress. And as I said earlier, ARTA, the agency that is mandated to look at all these regulations and particularly the issuance of permits would have to look into, and the President will be issuing, the Office of the President will be issuing directives to ARTA to ensure that no agencies will cause delay on any of these projects by way of delays in the issuance of permits and licenses.
MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: Okay, thank you. And last question from Sam Medenilla, Business Mirror.
MEDENILLA/BUSINESS MIRROR: Mag-i-inquire lang kami regarding, sir, doon sa, iyong out of doon sa 194 infra projects, ilan na po kaya iyong dumaan sa feasibility study? At saka mayroon na po bang infra project from the previous administration iyong na-scrap doon sa new list? Ano po iyong reason kung bakit po na-scrap?
NEDA DG BALISACAN: As we said earlier, of these 194 projects, 71 of those were from the previous administration, particularly during the Duterte administration and the basis for their inclusion there is, this has been approved and this has been before and they have been already implemented. In other words, they have started and so, we cannot discontinue any of those projects because, you know, if they have been proven to be useful for the economy, for our society, they must be completed, otherwise, we waste opportunities. So, I am not aware of any of those projects that have met those criteria. We have established, by the way, guidelines on the selection of projects that can be included in the IFPs.
Number one there is, these projects are of national significance, and they have been identified, they support sensitivity to the priorities identified in the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028 as well as in the 8-Point Socioeconomic Agenda of the President. So, there were criteria and so, each of those projects was ranked according to certain objective criteria.
Okay, what’s the second part of your question? Ah the feasibility studies, yeah. Not all of these have complete feasibility studies, in fact, we have the data there. Let me just look at this. Out of the 194 for example, 95 are ongoing and have been approved for implementation, and eight have already secured government approval. So, they have been approved by the approving authority, and most of these projects will be NEDA Board, and now the next stage is the implementation. Forty-seven (47) of those are ongoing project preparations. So, feasibility studies are being prepared, are being completed, and the remaining 44 are under pre-project preparation.
Now, with respect to these projects that do not have yet feasibility studies, the instruction and the decision of the NEDA Board this morning was to give priority for our DBM to give priority to these prior [projects] in so far as providing funding for the preparation of these feasibility studies. If these are part of ODA then usually the ODA sources like the World Bank or ADB that usually comes also with the feasibility study. But for those that are locally funded, we have to produce those feasibility studies.
MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: Okay, thank you. And really the last one, Joyce Balancio, ABS-CBN.
BALANCIO/ABS-CBN: Hi, sir. Just a follow-up lang doon sa 123 new projects under the Marcos admin. How many of these projects are from investment pledges from his previous out-of-country trips and baka may update na rin kayo, sir, sa follow-up doon sa mga investment pledges?
NEDA DG BALISACAN: Well, the investment pledges are not, these are for the private sector, iyang halimbawa magtatayo sila ng factories, hindi kasama dito iyon. These are infrastructure projects – irrigation, health facilities, highways, skyways, and railways. Unless na, well some of them will probably be investing in this infrastructure through PPP. But we will know that when you roll up the PPP. ODA, yes, of course to the extent that the pledges, whereby foreign governments… then those could be ODA.
MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: Okay. Thank you very much, Secretary Arsenio Balisacan of NEDA. Thank you for sharing the priority infrastructure flagship projects.
NEDA DG BALISACAN: Thank you so much.
MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: Thank you, have a good lunch, guys.
###
—
News and Information Bureau – Transcription Section
