Incoming NEDA chief Balisacan plans to ‘reinvigorate’ PPPs under Marcos

Incoming Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) chief Arsenio Balisacan said Friday he is planning to “reinvigorate” public-private partnership (PPP) projects under the Marcos administration.

“We should reinvigorate, reexamine and bring back PPPs. We’ll reach out to the private sector because he [President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr.] believes that the private sector plays a very strong role in economic development,” Balisacan said in an interview on ANC.

“It is my firm view that without the private sector, we can’t really expect to go far,” he said.

When the Duterte administration unveiled its P8.2-trillion Build, Build, Build program, it initially shunned away from PPP projects as it pushed for more government and official development assistance funded projects.

In 2019, the government shrank the size of the Build, Build, Build program to P4.7 trillion after scrapping several big-ticket projects due to feasibility issues and then expressed openness to more collaborations with the private sector. 

Balisacan said he will also focus on boosting the country’s manufacturing sector.

“The lessons of recent history is that if you have a manufacturing sector in the early stages of your development, poverty reduction is so fast and likely sustainable,” he said.

“The key is the generation of productive jobs… I’ve been talking with policy makers that our manufacturing has to be revived,” he added.

Balisacan, who currently sits as chairman of the Philippine Competition Commission, has been tapped by Marcos to lead NEDA under his administration.

He previously held the position during the administration of the late President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III from 2012 to 2016. — RSJ, GMA News