By: VENUS MAY H. SARMIENTO
PIA-Pangasinan Infocenter

FOR the first time in many years, we have money to spend for roads, bridges, ports and airports through intensified revenue collection and additional fund sources and not by selling government assets to fund the national deficit, a top national official said Thursday.

Super Region Champion-designate, Secretary Arthur Yap, revealed in a press conference for the 1st North Luzon Agribusiness Quadrangle (NLAQ) held in Dagupan City Thursday that the total budget for the irrigation programs, airports, ports and road improvements stands at P23 billion from the SONA commitments but the Medium Term Philippine Investment Plan could well reach P370 billion while the total national program could total P1 trillion.

“People always say that the government cannot pay for all these,” Yap said “But considering that from 2006-2010, the national expenditure program could reach almost P5 trillion, what is P1 trillion for infrastructure in the next five years to a P5-6 trillion national expenditure budget?”

Yap added that the super regions program is not going into some form of support programs that disperse into thin air, because the government is building things “that we can be all accountable for like building roads, building irrigations, upgrading bridges and building coal chain program.”

He also expressed full confidence that the government can cope with the budget deficit.
“We have P84 billion in additional revenues each year,” Yap said. “Because of more revenues, we may close the deficit gap two years ahead of schedule.”

He said two years ago the country’s deficit was P180-190 billion. This went down to P140 B. This year, the target is to go down to P124B. “By next year, it will be P 55-60 billion and the year after that, it will be zero,” he calculated.

This means, Yap explained, we will have enough revenues to fund all personnel services (PS), maintenance and other operating expenses ( MOOE) and the savings can be spent for infrastructure.

As presidential adviser for job creation, Yap said he is often asked about the number of jobs already created. He admitted that the government cannot compete with private sector when it comes to creating jobs.

“Private sector is still the number one creator of jobs but private sector will not invest on jobs if basic infrastructure is not present,” Yap said.

At the kick-off ceremonies of the of the NLAQ held at the Leisure Coast Resort in Bonuan Binloc this city, Yap said North Luzon is one of the five super regions identified by President Arroyo in her SONA, drawing the region’s competitive advantage.

For North Luzon, the concentration is on agribusiness with its 19 provinces in the four regions basically responsible for 37% of total national rice production, 26% national corn production and 53% of national vegetable production.

The objective of the government is to turn North Luzon into a highly productive, high yielding “food basket” not only for the urban beltway to supply workers with food but also to supply North Asia, exporting to Beijing Shanghai, Taiwan, Japan and Hongkong.