Marcos vows efficient use of ADB loans, tech aid

CHEERS! President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Masatsugu Asakawa, president of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), raise a toast during the President’s visit to the ADB headquarters in Mandaluyong City on Monday, May 22, 2023. (MALACAÑANG PHOTO)

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday assured the Asian Development Bank (ADB) that the Philippines will hold fast to its responsibilities to the regional financial institution, which has funded several development projects in the country.

Speaking at the ADB reception at the bank’s headquarters in Mandaluyong City, the President promised to ensure that the plans and projects would be stringently and timely executed and the loans and other technical assistance granted to the country would be judiciously utilized.

“The Philippines stands to significantly gain from this mutually beneficial relationship with the ADB. We are aware of the responsibilities that this relationship carries with it. But I will reecho my father’s words during the ADB inauguration some 57 years ago: ‘We will meet those responsibilities’,” Marcos said, referring to his late father and namesake.

Being the country’s “reliable and unparalleled partner” for nearly six decades, he said the ADB has extended developmental assistance programs that have spanned across several administrations.

With the country facing the twin challenges of post-pandemic recovery and the climate crisis, the president said his administration was looking at the ADB for more development interventions in various areas, such as climate-related projects.

‘Largest source of ODA’

“As the ‘climate bank’ of Asia and the Pacific, the ADB has proven its reliability in extending strategic financing and technical assistance for climate-responsive projects,” he said.

Before the reception, Marcos and several Cabinet secretaries met with ADB president Masatsugu Asakawa and went through some of the programs presently being implemented and others that are in the pipeline.

“The largest source of our ODA (official development assistance) financing now is ADB, so we are very grateful to ADB for all that assistance … They have been an essential part of all our development plans and they have been a robust and strong and reliable partner in the development of the Philippines,” Marcos said in a brief media interview after the reception.

Food stamp program

The president said he discussed with Asakawa what the Philippines can expect from the ADB in the next few years in terms of large-scale development programs.

“Traditionally, ADB has provided assistance to infrastructure, [but] now the scope of the ODA assistance that we get through ADB has now increased and we are now talking about agriculture; we are talking about reskilling and retraining. We’re talking about climate change and its mitigation and adaptation, and perhaps we will go forward,” he said.

Currently in the pipeline for ADB funding, he added, include a proposal by the Department of Social Welfare and Development for a food stamp program, and partnerships with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority and the Civil Service Commission on skills training and digitalization.

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