Presidential candidate Senator Panfilo Lacson on Saturday, March 19 left it to the Filipino people to judge whether or not President Duterte’s vaunted "Build Build Build" (BBB) program was a success.
Reacting to a query during a presidential debate sponsored by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on whether or not the BBB was successful and worthy of being continued by him should he win in May, Lacson said: ‘’Out of 188 projects, what was accomplished is only 12.’’
If the BBB program is to be continued, Lacson said it should be boosted and even broadened.
He, however, cautioned that perfected contracts, particularly those in the pipeline, should be respected because there is such a thing as inviolability of contracts.
Government could not turn its back on perfected contracts, particularly those involving foreign investments, and they should be continued, he explained.
The problem, according to Lacson, is that the Philippine government has accumulated P12.3 trillion in national debt, both foreign and domestic.
Therefore, Lacson said it is time to shift from BBB to PPP where the private sector shall shoulder the costs.
‘’Maraming tayong malalaking corporation willing sila mag-participate s nation building lalo sa infrastructure (There are many big corporations that are willing to participate in nation-building, particularly in infrastructure),’’ he pointed out.
‘’So ang sa aking pananaw, legacy ng pangkasalukuyang admin ang BBB, wag nating iwanan; kaya nga lang dahil lubog tayo sa utang kailangan talagang magisip tayo ng ibang paraan, mag shift tayo sa PPP (In my opinion, BBB is a legacy of the administration that we should not discard; but we are mired in debt that we should think of other ways, such as PPP),’’ he added.