VICE President Jejomar Binay on Monday criticized the Aquino administration before businessmen on Monday, giving a failing grade on the infrastructure and the public private partnership (PPP) program of the government.
But Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson dismissed Binay’s observation as “incorrect.”
In his speech at the 41st Philippine Business Conference and Expo attended by members of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Binay described the public-private partnership program of the administration as “paralysis by analysis” and the “epicenter of its failure.”
He even chided the Aquino administration for having only one PPP project completed in its six-year watch, which was the four-kilometer Muntinlupa-Cavite expressway.
“Five years ago, the Aquino administration unveiled a private-partnership program as its centerpiece policy. This program has now become the epicenter of its failure,” said Binay, who resigned from the Cabinet and turned opposition leader as presidential candidate of the United Nationalist Alliance in 2016.
Binay said the administration’s first PPP project only served to benefit the property developers. Binay was referring to the P2.01-billion Daang Hari-South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) Link Road, a four-kilometer road that connects Bacoor, Cavite and the South Luzon Expressway.
“Most of the infra projects covered by this program remain on the drawing boards. That’s why sometimes we say, analysis by paralysis. Those that have been bid out suffer from inexplicable delays,” Binay said.
“This administration will bow out of office with only one project completed: a four-kilometer link road it called expressway, obviously built to serve the property developments of those who built it,” Binay added.
The vice president said the administration’s failure to bolster infrastructure growth only worsened poverty. Without the proper infrastructure to support the growth of smaller businesses, “wealth has become more concentrated,” Binay said.
“Without a modern logistics network, small-and-medium enterprises will not thrive. The failure of the Aquino administration in building the infrastructure we so direly needed has tremendous repercussions on the quality of growth,” Binay said.
Binay said poverty worsened under the current administration, belying its claim of “inclusive growth.”
“Poverty has deepened, unemployment remains high. To call this ‘inclusive growth’ is to delude the people,” Binay said.
“Instead, the Aquino years may most accurately be described as a period of lost opportunities,” he added.
If elected, Binay vowed that under his administration, “massive infrastructure program will be given primary attention.”
“This is the key to unlocking the trapped potentials of our national economy. It will enable our companies to operate more efficiently to operate more efficiently to compete in an open regional market. It will unlock the potential of our agricultural sector and help bring down our excessively high food price regime. That will create jobs and reduce poverty,” Binay said.
In an interview after Binay’s speech, Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson said one cannot please everybody in the conduct of public office.
He said Binay’s observation that the PPP is the “epicenter” of the administration’s failure is not a correct statement because most of the government infrastructure projects are funded under the national budget and not under the PPP.
“I don’t think it’s the correct statement… It’s not like we will fail if the PPP will not push through. As far as the DPWH is concerned, a bigger portion of the budget really comes from the General Appropriations Act and not from the PPP, or from the private sector,” Singson said.
Asked about Binay’s observation that the PPP is “paralysis by analysis,” Singson said: “Kanya kanyang point of view ’yan. We can’t satisfy everyone.”