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Sunday, December 18, 2016
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MANILA – The Duterte administration would only succeed in meeting its socioeconomic goals with the assistance of the country’s development partners in the international community, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said on Friday.
The Cabinet official is responding to the announcement of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) that it had deferred a vote on the reselection of the Philippines for compact development involving hundreds of millions of dollar worth of grant.
“The Duterte administration’s three priority goals of reducing poverty, developing a society that is law-abiding and being a country at peace with itself and its neighbors, would only succeed with the assistance of the country’s development partners in the international community,” Dominguez said.
“In realizing these three priority goals, the government has to make tough decisions which will not please everybody,” the Finance secretary said.
The Philippines remains committed to the rule of law in realizing the Duterte administration’s socioeconomic goals, the Department of Finance said in a statement.
It was Dominguez who broke the news to Economic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia, regarding the MCC decision.
But Pernia made it appear that the MCC grant, estimated at $433 million, was insignificant in the face of other investments coming into the country.
Dominguez pointed out that the Philippines had passed 13 out of the 20 country indicators in the latest MCC scorecard report published last month, including control of corruption, rule of law and civil liberties.
The Philippine MCC scorecard was a slight improvement from last year’s performance report in which the Philippines passed 12 out of the 20, according to the Cabinet official.
But the independent US government aid grant body made it clear it was concerned by issues surrounding the rule of law and civil liberties under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.
OTHERS REMAIN BULLISH
“We have received the news about the MCC’s decision. We thank them for the grant that the Philippines received under the first compact as we reassure them and the rest of our development partners that the government continues to vigorously implement initiatives that reinforce the Duterte presidency’s commitment to good governance, peace and order and the rule of law,” Dominguez said in a statement.
The MCC Board is due to reconvene in March 2017 under a new US administration led by President-elect Donald Trump.
In the first six months of the Duterte administration, the Philippines continued to be the economic “outperformer” in the region, with the World Bank and Asian Development Bank projecting economic output to grow by more than 6 percent while credit rating agencies kept an investment grade rating for the country, Dominguez noted.
The Finance Department said other institutions are keeping a bullish position towards the Philippines under the Duterte, including the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp., Nomura, Citibank, Fitch Ratings, International Monetary Fund, and the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.
An overwhelming majority of Filipinos believe the Duterte administration has been doing a very good job in restoring peace and order – as shown by the Social Weather Station (SWS) survey which gave the new government a record “very good” rating of 77 percent in the last quarter, the DOF said.
It was a very good net satisfaction rating at a high +63, based on SWS standards, it said.
“Its war against illegal drugs obtained an ‘excellent’ rating in the latest SWS survey released last Nov. 17,” it added.
When President Duterte recalled his recent phone conversation with US President-elect Donald Trump, the American leader wished him well on his campaign against drugs and said he understood the way that Duterte was handling it, Dominguez noted.
The Cabinet official said that in his meetings with foreign government officials, a number of them said they understood the gravity of the problem that Duterte faces in his war against illegal drugs.
Officials from the United Kingdom, Spain, Japan and China have focused on the rehabilitation aspect of the Duterte administration’s campaign against illegal drugs, he added. (GMA News)
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