‘Lack of corporate appetite may doom RP rehab’

MANILA, Philippines – Albay Gov. Joey Salceda warned yesterday that the government’s much-vaunted massive reconstruction effort could fail as the special public-private commission created for the purpose did not turn out as originally envisioned.

He said the “lack of corporate appetite” and the government reflexively resorting to traditional methods of fund-raising complicated the effort.

Salceda, President Arroyo’s economic adviser and original proponent of the Special National Public-Private Reconstruction Commission (SNPPRC), issued the statement as the commission is expected to push through with its initial meeting with the international donor community on Nov. 12.

The meeting is a prelude to a major pledging session tentatively set in Tokyo next month.

The original plan was for a full public-private partnership to be chaired by Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. chairman Manuel Pangilinan and co-chaired by Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal and Finance Secretary Margarito Teves, as set in an executive order issued by the President last month.

An amended EO, however, was later issued allowing the government to take the lead in the body.

Officials of the SNPPRC also later formed a private foundation that would be the private sector component of the commission but with an expanded membership.

Salceda said the SNPPRC, as it is now, was “a missed opportunity.”

He said the Philippines needs to raise some $2 billion to fully fund its long-term reconstruction that would also harden or protect communities from future calamities.

“Obviously, the SNPPRC has not turned out to be as envisioned principally due to lack of corporate appetite (lack of heroism) for direct management of a public authority. A private recovery foundation does not measure up to the potential and intrinsic capability of a public-private partnership mechanism. We are essentially back to a ‘business as usual’ modality with the Department of Finance in charge of fundraising,” he said in a statement.

Salceda said the logic behind creating the SNPPRC was originally to “lock in the moment” as 86 percent of the reconstruction work is likely to carry over into the next administration through a high-profile credible institution with the aid of private sector leadership armed with “centralized” and “full powers” so donors could talk to only one agency.

“With Pangilinan not craving to play hero, current status is really back to ‘business-as-usual’ with Teves essentially as chief fund-raiser,” he said. “Still, at least a sweetener, the private foundation to mobilize and aggregate domestic corporate initiatives.”

He, however, said that the SNPPRC rationale could still be “salvaged” through the designation of a relocation czar, like Vice President Noli de Castro; agriculture rehabilitation, with National Anti-Poverty Commission chief Secretary Domingo Panganiban; and flood control czar, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chairman Bayani Fernando on the implementation side, and fund-raising czar, like Teves, on the financing side.

He said the total damage to agriculture and infrastructure by “Ondoy” and “Pepeng” amounted to P38 billion but annual national calamity fund covers only 27 percent of recovery requirements. –Paolo Romero (The Philippine Star)