Understanding the value of a good public infrastructure program in driving the national economy, Partido Reporma standard-bearer Sen. Panfilo Lacson committed to build on the achievements of past administrations in this aspect if he wins in the May 9 elections.
But while he recognized what the “Build, Build, Build” program of President Rodrigo Duterte tried to accomplish, he said he is leaning toward reviving the “Public Private Partnership” approach that was initiated by the late President Benigno Aquino III.
“Instead of the Build, Build, Build, let’s go back to PPP because we are deep in debt right now. We need to compress our government expenditure a bit, our public expenditure, because right now [our national budget] is at P5-trillion,” Lacson said.
“Let us go back to that level of expenditure because there are other things that take higher priority such as public health, and productivity, among others,” he added.
Lacson said a shift to PPP would enable the government to keep building roads, bridges, and other public infrastructure projects that remain in the pipeline without sacrificing other areas of governance that equally need appropriate budgets.
“So, to me, the Build, Build, Build is good but maybe we can shift to PPP because the [funding] requirement [for some projects] is way too much for the government to shoulder alone in terms of infrastructure spending,” said Lacson.
Also, as part of his ongoing anti-corruption advocacy, Lacson said he would develop mechanisms that would ensure future infrastructure projects under his possible administration would be free from graft and other illegal practices.
“We have seen newly-built bridges that collapsed. That is still corruption. All activities, once you carefully examine them, corruption is always involved,” he said.