Education, health PPP projects get P8B

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THE GOVERNMENT has allocated P8 billion from the P1.816-trillion national budget proposed for next year to support public-private partnerships (PPP) for key education and health care services, a Cabinet official said.

“We have to shun the business-as-usual mind-set in combating poverty. This government believes that innovations like PPP should be used to improve the quality and pace of implementation of social services to empower the poor,” Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad said in a statement yesterday.

The PPP approach, introduced for big-ticket infrastructure, will be used next year for the projects of the Departments of Education (DepEd) and of Health (DoH), Mr. Abad said.

“We have been limiting ourselves to funding school buildings and regional hospitals through the annual budget. Why don’t we tap the capital and expertise of the private sector to escalate [sic] social services?” he said.

A total of P5 billion is earmarked for the PPP scheme to fast-track the construction of schools. Mr. Abad said the government can enter into multi-year arrangements with private contractors to build school buildings. Under this scheme, private contractors advance the cost of construction and the government amortizes the cost over a period.

The same statement quoted secretaries Armin A. Luistro and Rogelio L. Singson of Education and Public Works, respectively, as saying that as many as 60,000 classrooms can be built next year under this scheme.

Moreover, P3 billion has been allocated for the Health department’s PPPs to upgrade, rehabilitate, maintain and operate 25 regional hospitals. Private expertise can be tapped to better manage these facilities.

Social services will receive a bulk of the proposed 2012 national budget at P575.8 billion, equivalent to 31.7% of the P1.816-trillion outlay. This allocation is 10.4% more than the current level of P521.4 billion.

The DepEd will get the biggest allocation among government offices of P238.8 billion, while the DoH will get P44.4 billion.

The 2012 national budget will be the first to be fully prepared, acted on and implemented under the Aquino administration. Congress aims to have the budget ready for signing into law by Dec. 15.
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By: D. C. J. Jiao
Source: Business World, Aug. 8, 2011
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