Econ managers to discuss how to bankroll Arroyo promises

The nation’s top economic managers will meet on Thursday to discuss how government can bankroll the ambitious projects costing hundreds of billions of pesos that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo had promised in her sixth state of the nation address last Monday. The meeting comes in the wake of conflicting statements from Mrs Arroyo's Cabinet members on the government's financial capability to fulfill her "wish list" of mega projects. Finance Secretary Margarito Teves, in a text message to GMANews.TV, confirmed that economic managers will come out with a detailed and uniform report on the cost of the proposed projects Mrs. Arroyo announced Monday. Socio-Economic Planning Secretary Romulo Neri said in a separate telephone interview he might not be able to attend the meeting due to a prior commitment, but that Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. will join the conference. Costs, timetable, and funding will be discussed in the meeting. Former Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno had estimated that the projects would cost a whopping P500 billion, leaving her economic managers at odds over the available funding. Hours after Mrs Arroyo delivered her SONA, Teves had said that he first wants to determine which of the long list of projects could be implemented first, given the available funds. Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, a known economic adviser of Mrs. Arroyo, estimated that the projects would cost the government P1 trillion and said he would oppose the imposition of new taxes to bankroll the reforms. Neri has said it will not be difficult to fund the early estimate of P500 billion as the government has already secured official development assistance worth $2 billion for the North Rail and South Rail projects. Andaya, for his part, said on Tuesday that the government will resort to a combination of loans, internally generated revenue, and private investments to pursue the planned reforms. "Not all of the funding will come from the national budget. We expect financial sources from government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) and some of the projects will be under the BOT (build-operate-transfer) scheme, to be led by the private sector," Andaya said. "It is not true that I don't know where the funds will come from," Andaya added. "My point is, I can not give an estimate to those projects that are under GOCCs and those that are led by the private sector because those are not under the budget department," Andaya said. - Carmina E. Reyes, GMANews.TV