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HINDI makatwirang pagkasimot ng pondo ng Nayong Pilipino Foundation ang nagtulak sa isang senador na ipabusisi sa Department of Tourism (DOT) ang proyektong Public-Private Partnership (PPP) na pinasok ng naturang ahensya ng gobyerno para sa pagpapatayo sa isang cultural theme park.
Sa isang pahayag, kinalampag ni Sen. Nancy Binay na tumatayong chairman ng Senate Committee on Tourism, ang DOT na rebisahin ang P1.5-bilyong proyektong inaprubahan ng National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) sa ilalim ng kasunduang PPP.
“Siguro kailangan balikan at i-review ng DOT yung na-approve ng NEDA na original and the very first PPP model for a cultural theme park ng Nayong Pilipino,” ani ni Binay, kasabay ng giit sa mandato ng NPF na itaguyod ang kulturang Pilipino at humanap ng alternatibong pagkakakitaan.
Ayon kay Binay, pabor siya ang opinyon ng Commission on Audit (COA) na kailangan makalikha ang Nayong Pilipino ng alternatibong pagkakakitaan sa operasyon ng nasabing tanggapan sa ilalim ng DOT.
“Given their fiscal situation now, I would side with COA’s opinion that Nayong Pilipino needs to come up with alternative revenue sources for its operations, kasi kung walang kongkretong plano o proyekto para magkaroon ng income, at walang movement para maging sustainable ang operations ng NPF, paniguradong masisimot kung anumang pondo ang meron sila,” ayon sa mambabatas.
“Again, DOT can also look into NPF’s financial and sales projections in the next 5-10 years. Tingnan din ng DOT ang ibang activities that crossline the department’s programs, o yung mga corporate function that somehow duplicate what other agencies are already doing,” paliwanag ng mambabatas.
Aniya, dapat self-sustaining na ang Nayong Pilipino – at hindi umaasa lang sa alokasyon ng Kongreso.
“More than anything else, with income coming from several pieces of prime assets that they own and lease out—including the 15-hectare property they own in Bay City/Aseana which awaits to be developed—the NPF is supposedly a self-sustaining GOCC,” ayon kay Binay.
“It’s really up to them as to how they can maximize their property to be of highest and best use. The NPF needs to think out of the box to generate a decent income—but the first step is not getting out of the box. The most important first step for NPF is to ‘Think’,”
