Small victory

THE much-awaited $5.5 million funding from US Millennium Challenge Corp. (MCC) was fi nally bestowed to the Philippines, MCC’s “model partner.”
The memorandum of understanding between the Philippines and the US was signed on Friday by Ambassador Willy Gaa and MCC acting VP Darius Teter. The funds will be utilized to complete benefi t analyses, engineering designs and environmental and social impact studies on investments and cost estimates for proposed projects to benefi t the needy.
The Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) is a foreign-assistance program that former United States President George W. Bush announced during the Financing for Development Conference in 2002. The funds are appropriated by Congress annually, in line with the US’ call for a “new compact for global development and is administered by the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).
There are two different kinds of grant assistance provided by the MCC to eligible countries – threshold and compact. A compact is a multi-year agreement between the MCC and an eligible country. It funds specifi c programs aimed at reducing poverty and stimulating economic growth. A threshold, on the other hand, is the precondition for a country to be awarded for compact funding. It assists countries to improve performance in the areas of good governance and economic freedom, the basic principle of the MCC.
Since 2006,the Philippines has received threshold assistance amounting to $21 million. The Philippines’ above median performance in fi ghting corruption on at least half of the indicators in three policy categories – ruling justly, investing in people and economic freedom – has led to its eligibility to acquire compact assistance in 2008.
This milestone agreement may come as a precursor, but not necessarily as an assurance that the Philippines will be able to acquire compact funding from MCC. The $5.5 million will be utilized to facilitate RP’s proposal for US funding of up to $500 million for projects that promote economic growth and improve revenue collection.
Ambassador Gaa spoke in behalf of the Philippine government and underscored it’s commitment “to promote economic growth through a compact proposal aimed at benefi ting the poorest of the poor in the Philippines while addressing issues involving tax evasion and corruption.”
There is still a long road ahead of us, and the possibility of acquiring a $500 million compact agreement from the United States may seem like a search for the holy grail. The $5.5 million initial funding is just a drop in the bucket at this point, but the government deserves a pat on the back for getting off to a good start.
If you think about it, the obstacles aren’t really impossible to hurdle. In order to overcome the challenges, we must fi rst look into ourselves, exorcise the demons of selfi shness which lead us to do acts of graft and corruption, and then start looking outwards and make collective efforts for the betterment of the common good.
Now is the time to show our full potential to the rest of the world – the Philippines as a democratic, globalized and progressive nation. (AJPress)
( www.asianjournal.com )
( Published October 24, 2009 in Asian Journal Los Angeles p. A12 )