Imagine what P10B can buy: 25 fast combat patrol boats with missiles

MANILA, Philippines—Imagine what P10 billion can finance or buy.

25,000 school buildings (each building has two classrooms and two toilets) [P400,000 per building, price used by the Filipino Chinese Chamber of Commerce]

40,485 teachers who can be paid for one year (P247,000 annual salary)

57,142 low-cost houses and lots for police and military personnel (P175,000 each with lot sizes and floor areas of 36 and 22 square meters, respectively)

83 million whole chicken (P120/piece)

83 million kilos of medium bangus (P120/kilo)

606 million 25-gram packs of coffee (P16.50/pack)

111.1 million kilos of mangoes (P90/kilo)

285.7 million kilos of latundan (banana variety) (P35/kilo)

425.5 million cans of 150-gram corned beef (P23.50/can)

1.8 billion 250-mg antibiotic capsules (P5.6/capsule on the average)

6.2 million 10-ml insulin vials for diabetic patients (P1,618 average cost)

547 million Simvastatin tablets for hypertension (P18.25 average cost)

Entries from our inquirer.net readers:

30,030 fully equipped classrooms (P333,000/unit) – zdrx

8 million sacks of rice (P1,250/sack) – zdrx

25 combat-ready 40-meter long, high speed patrol boats with missiles (400 million/unit) – zdrx

20,000 houses for our kababayan (P500,000/house) – news analyzer

1.25 million computers for public high schools (P8,000/unit) – naya88

P5 million worth of medicines for 2,000 government hospitals – naya88

Relative to the P10-billion fund scam are the following costs:

P4.8 billion—estimated cost of the Bicol International Airport Project

P8.6 billion—expected cost of the MRT 3 Capacity Extension Project involving the acquisition of 52 light rail vehicles

P9.7 billion—estimated cost of the 4.19-kilometer extension of LRT 2

P10.9 billion—worth of crops and infrastructure damaged by Tropical Storm “Ondoy’’ in 2009

We encourage readers to send their entries to inqresearch@inquirer.com.ph.–Compiled by Lawrence de Guzman and Ana Roa, Inquirer Research

Sources: Inquirer Archives; Bureau of Agricultural Statistics

Read more...