That R-II TRO
BY DUCKY PAREDES
Limits to business ‘philanthropies’
‘There is no profit in building classrooms, and Abad’s brainstorm simply will not fly.’
BUDGET Secretary Butch Abad probably was just wondering aloud when he said the construction of schools could be included in the Public-Private Partnership (PPPs) program, the Aquino administration’s flagship infrastructure initiative. There is no profit in building classrooms. Hence no right-thinking businessman would entertain the thought of going into such a venture. Abad’s brainstorm simply will not fly.
Education is close to Abad’s heart. He held the education portfolio for a time. But now that he is in charge of allocating finite government resources among infinite demands for their use, he has apparently realized that solving the classroom shortage cannot be done without starving other equally vital programs.
The proposed budget for education in 2011 is P207 billion. The amount is a big improvement from the 2010 budget of P174 billion and most of it will go to the construction of 13,000 classrooms and the hiring of 10,000 teachers. The funding level, however, remains inadequate even in terms of solving the classroom shortage alone.
The shortage stands at 40,000 classrooms based on two shifts and 147,000 based on one shift. At the rate of 13,000 new classrooms every year, the Aquino would only be halfway to solving the problem at the end of its six-year term.
Evidently, additional sources of money must be found. But it cannot be from the private sector, certainly not through the PPP.
The principal motivation for big business in joining the PPP program is the chance to earn a fair return on investments. We understand there are at least 70 such big-ticket projects identified by the National Economic and Development Authority. Efforts are currently under way to pare down the number to a manageable 10 to more quickly jump-start the projects. New airports and expressways and expansion of mass transport are said to be high up on the list.
These are self-liquidating projects and it is just a matter of packaging these to attract private sector interest. Nevertheless, efforts must be made to sell the projects to the business community. It will not be easy, given the political uncertainties surrounding dealings with any administration, even under a graft-free environment promised by President Aquino.
The marketing program, already difficult as it is to execute, should not include philanthropies" like construction of public school classrooms.