LAST week’s announcement from the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) that a Korean firm, EN-Plus Co. Ltd., is investing P5 billion in electric vehicle (EV) manufacture in Negros Occidental came as a pleasant surprise.
PEZA said that it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with EN-Plus.
There is, of course, a long way between a signed MOU and full implementation of the project. The plan is to manufacture electric cars and electric jeepneys in the municipality of Pulupandan, Negros Occidental.
My opinion is that PEZA’s role is far from over. For example, it will need to have detailed discussions with EN-PLUS as to what the Korean firm needs from the point of view of infrastructural support in Negros Occidental.
Nevertheless, this is potentially an exciting project and we wish PEZA and EN-Plus every success.
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Morale-boosting in these difficult times is always welcome. So it was gratifying to read in last week’s PN that Global Business Power together with its Region 6 subsidiaries, Panay Energy and Panay Power is joining Bacolod City in celebrating Masskara Festival 2021.
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Some time ago, we read of the possibility that under the Build, Build, Build scheme we could see a project involving building a bridge from Panay to Guimaras to Negros. As with most people in Region 6, we welcomed this. From a personal point of view, we welcomed implementing the complete project. An alternative that was also mentioned was to truncate the work to building a bridge from Panay to Guimaras only. The complete project would facilitate land transportation throughout Region 6 Trade between Negros and Panay would increase tremendously. From a personal point of view, many families have strong links with both Bacolod and Iloilo Cities. A complete bridge would engender much stronger family communications.
So to last week’s PN article ‘WV mega bridge pushing through’. We hope so. The Korean government is reportedly providing financial support for the project to be undertaken by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
We have to sound a cautionary note, however. There are a substantial number of other infrastructure projects being considered.
We are also increasingly aware of the rapidly increasingly indebtedness that we are currently incurring. At the weekend, Senator Ping Lacson kindly pointed out to us that the national debt has now risen to P120,000 for every man, woman, and child in the Nation. Can we carry on like this or is it time to put on the brakes?
Both the Executive and Legislative branches will have vigorous debates. The stakes are high. Curbing indebtedness will result in greater unemployment, but to continue ambitious projects will mean greater debt with attendant difficulties in future repayments.
The jury is out./PN
