What epic fail is

Foreign investors wanted the rescinding of contracts to be based on concrete proof of being onerous or the criminal liability of the contractor and not mere allegations of wrongdoing that the administration of Noynoy failed to prove.

The yellow mob has changed track and is now zeroing in on the economic record of President Rody Duterte despite the obvious progress being felt in the country.

The usual detractors are banking on perceptions through repeated deceit such as the attempt to denigrate the “Build, Build, Build” (BBB) program after a realignment of flagship projects halfway through the Duterte administration.

The economic team’s focus now is on some 100 flagship projects to be completed or ongoing before Rody steps down in 2022.

To his critics, the adjustment in the targets meant the BBB was a dismal failure, which is far from reality considering the massive build up being seen everywhere in the country.

The common opinion among the ordinary man on the street, for instance, was that the traffic situation would have not reached carmaggedon proportion had the projects been started in the previous administration of President Noynoy Aquino, who did nothing but underspend the budget, resulting in the stalling of infrastructure contracts.

The PPP or Private Public Partnership program that was a strategy to spur the economy under Noynoy instead can be considered as a genuine flop.

Presidential Adviser for Flagship Programs and Projects Vince Dizon said 38 of the 100 signature projects will be completed by 2022; 22 partially operational or substantially completed; and 40 to be completed beyond 2022.

“’Build, Build, Build’ never promised that we will complete all these infra projects in five to six years. That’s impossible. Nobody promised that. But we promised that we will start,” Dizon said.

The updating of the BBB list was made due to the initiative of the President who asked his economic team to revisit the list.

Dizon said a major undertaking, the Kaliwa Dam, will commence next year and should be completed by 2025.

In contrast, Noynoy’s PPP awarded contracts for 12 of 53 projects worth a total of P217.3 billion in the entire six years of his lackluster term.

Business groups assailed the lack of focus in the PPP that resulted in investors staying clear of the bidding for government contracts.

Noynoy also was beset by the issue of integrity of public deals after arbitrarily stopping several projects awarded during the term of his political opponent former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

The Joint Foreign Chambers (JFC) warned then that growth prospects are being impeded with the failure of the PPP program.

The dearth of foreign direct investments then was mainly the result of the crisis of confidence.

The European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) said then Noynoy’s failure of honoring contracts was a major hump in the success of the flagship projects.

The aborted contracts and the unclear policy on government dealing particularly with those signed during the previous administration assured that the PPP was headed for disaster.

Foreign investors wanted the rescinding of contracts to be based on concrete proof of being onerous or the criminal liability of the contractor and not mere allegations of wrongdoing that the administration of Noynoy failed to prove since most deals scrapped were the result of vindictive politics.

The Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3, a case in point, was expropriated by Arroyo for alleged irregularities, which prompted its contractor to file arbitration cases with two international bodies.

When Noynoy took over Malacañang, he insisted on a government-computed compensation that was way below the cost incurred by the contractors in the project. The international arbitration decision required the government to pay compensations nearer the amount that the contractors had demanded from the government.

The ECCP also expressed disappointment over the dispute on the license plate standardization project of the Land Transportation Office (LTO).

A contract was awarded by the Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC) to JKG-Power Plates, a joint venture between a Dutch and a Filipino company who won the Motor Vehicle License Plate Standardization Program of the LTO.

The Commission on Audit, however, disallowed additional disbursements for the project.

All of the issues from Noynoy’s vengeful nature including that of the Terminal 3 controversy were immediately addressed by Rody when he took power that resulted in millions of dollars of compensation paid by the government.

Dismal failure was the product of Noynoying and vindictive politics that resulted in the country missing its true potentials realized under the current regime.