PPP Center Press Release
24 January 2013
Local Government Executives from the various municipalities of Eastern Visayas were introduced to the concept and procedures on public private partnership during the PPP seminar and project matching initiated by the League of Municipalities (LMP) of Eastern Visayas.
The LMP tapped the Public-Private Partnership Center to conduct a seminar on PPP to prepare region 8 local government executives to undertake well-structured PPP projects and ramp up the region’s development efforts. PPP Center Director for Capacity Building and Knowledge Management Service Eleazar E. Ricote, gave the participants an overview of the PPP as a viable funding scheme aimed to use the expertise and resources of the private sector in carrying out government projects.
Department of Energy Secretary Carlos Jerico L. Petilla, guest speaker of the seminar encouraged LGUs to partner with the private sector. “Government should not compete with the private sector. They can do business way, way better than an LGU,” the former Governor of Leyte emphasized. Petilla stressed that in undertaking projects with the private sector, government should move fast and have a definite direction for their projects. “It is not just a matter of partnering with the private sector. Remember that PPP projects will be implemented way beyond your term,” he added.
Meanwhile, PPP Center Deputy Executive Director Ferdinand Tolentino in his message urged the members of the LMP to seize the opportunity to exploit the resources and assistance that the PPP Center can provide the LGUs in developing and implementing its PPP projects.
The 2 day seminar was lead by Palo Mayor and Leyte Chapter President of the LMP Remedios Petilla. In her closing statement, she challenged the mayors of eastern Samar to plan their dreams and put it to reality. “The test of a good leader is how he puts these dreams into reality. Today during the PPP seminar we learned a lot on how to put our dreams into reality with the help of experts. We have the PPP manual, the templates. Everything is made easy for us through the PPP Center,” Mayor Petilla concluded.
Through its capacity building program, the PPP Center helps empower the local government to structure projects using the PPP mode and increase the uptake of PPP projects in their municipalities, jumpstarting development in their areas.
The capacity building seminar was conducted by Eleazar E. Ricote, Director for Capacity Building and Knowledge Management Service along with Kathleen Geslani of the Capacity Development Division of the Center while Clyde Padilla of the Department of Finance gave the participants a briefing on how to access the PPP fund.
