Aquino tells PHL development partners: 'This is a government that works and works with you'

MANILA, Philippines (PNA) - Addressing over 200 international and local development partners on Saturday at the Sofitel Hotel here, President Benigno S. Aquino III confidently said that “this is a government that works well and is willing to work with you” in ensuring that the benefits of prosperity will be felt by the greater majority of our citizens and not just by a few.

The Philippine Development Forum, the first organized in this administration, is chaired by Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima and co chaired by World Bank Country Director Bert Hofman. It was attended by multilateral funding agencies, foreign donors, civil society, non government organizations, the diplomatic and business communities and the academe.

The President said the forum “comes at the right time because our nation has always aspired for an economy where the growth powered by private enterprise impacts on a larger number of people.”

He noted the “upsurge of optimism in the Philippine economy” since the start of his administration, adding that “in a short span of time we are fulfilling our promise to curb corruption and reduce poverty.”

“We did not need a miracle to make it happen. We are simply doing things right,” he continued.

He said his administration took care of spending money prudently to where it could create more impact and benefit, reducing opportunities for corruption, using local ingenuity and creativity and reducing the perks and compensations of government owned and controlled corporations and government financial institutions basing the compensation on their accomplishments.

In January 2011, the GOCCs and GFIs remitted over P29 billion to the national treasury, almost triple the amount in the previous years’ delivery.

For example, he cited stopping overpriced contracts of the Department of Public Works and Highways amounting to P1 billion that were renegotiated and at least some P300 million in savings resulted from a more transparent and truly competitive process in the bidding.

He also mentioned how tapping local innovations such as coco coir for slope protection generated savings of some P2.2 billon.

He said government’s zero-based budgeting approach ensured the efficient use of public resources, as budget items were now evaluated in order to determine the relevance, effectiveness and vulnerability to leakages. Programs that were not delivering were terminated while those that were working enjoyed even more funding.

The President said his government has increased spending on social safety net programs such as the conditional cash transfer and the expanded Philhealth program for immediate, direct and substantial benefits. Beneficiaries to the CCT program will be increased from the current 1 million to 2.3 million by the end of 2011, he said.

The government also affirmed its commitment to basic education by giving it the biggest budget in a decade so that resources will be given to areas students need the most such as in building classrooms and more importantly hiring new teachers.

The Chief Executive said convergence is the key development strategy where efforts and resources will be collaborated for social protection, poverty reduction, health care, education and development of rural economies to ensure maximization of resources for greater impact.

The collaboration will also entail encouraging communities to participate actively in barangay development, as done in the KALAHI CIDDS areas to ensure that agencies pour their resources into communities that need them the most.

“Through our public private partnership initiatives we are also optimistic about enticing investors to enter into a fair, mutually beneficial and productive partnership with the government to build infrastructure, undertake other economic activities in order to generate more employment,” he said.

source: manila bulletin