Project proposals from China start coming in

Project proposals, mainly in railways, have started coming in from China even before President Duterte’s scheduled trip next week, National Treasurer Roberto Tan said yesterday.

“These are government-to-government financing, particularly for infrastructure projects and there are proposals already coming in,” Tan told reporters.

While he declined to provide details, Tan said there are “a lot” coming from railway companies as well as from communications firms.

In terms of location, he said the proposed projects were not concentrated in any area, but he confirmed interests in Mindanao, including Davao City, where Duterte was mayor before he became president.

The Chief Executive is scheduled to go to China for a state visit from Oct. 18 to 21 amid warming ties between the two nations with Duterte’s less confrontational approach to tackling the West Philippine Sea dispute with Beijing.

The President began cozying up to China despite the latter’s brazen disregard for a landmark ruling by an international tribunal in July upholding Manila’s position on the South China Sea and West Philippine Sea dispute and invalidating Beijing’s claim.

Last Monday, Duterte made it clear he would not bring up the ruling in his visit, but said he would ask China to allow Filipinos to fish at the Panatag Shoal, a traditional Filipino fishing ground for a long time.

China had already lifted its ban on banana imports from the Philippines.

There is no record of official development assistance (ODA) from China during the previous administration.

For Tan, financial cooperation between the territorial rivals could open more financing avenues for the Philippine government.

“There will be more financing source for us, like official credits for now,” he said.

Under the borrowing plan for next year, the government aims to source 80 percent of its financing needs from ODA coming from foreign governments and multilateral institutions.

Specifically, a total of P102.26 billion of the P126.26 billion in gross foreign borrowings are in the form of loans or grants, data showed.

This marked a change from the Aquino administration’s focus on foreign bond issuances for its funding needs. The United States, blasted in previous speeches by Duterte, is the country’s largest ODA provider.

Tan said funds would also be sourced from the Beijing-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank ( AIIB), once the Senate ratifies the agreement.

Before that, however, AIIB requires the Philippines to contribute $196 million to its $100-billion capital stock.

“We are already preparing for the Senate deliberation on that... and I understand the DBM (Department of Budget and Management) already identified sources for dealing with the subscription,” Tan said.