RP reaffirms commitment to improve MCC program

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines has assured the Millennium Challenge Corp. (MCC) of its commitment to work hard towards improving “the various aspects of (its) MCC program.”

Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo voiced the country’s commitment as well as its appreciation to the MCC for its re-selection as compact eligible for fiscal year 2010 during a meeting with MCC chief executive officer Daniel Yohannes.

The selection of a country as compact eligible means it can resubmit a compact proposal.

The DFA said Yohannes has acknowledged that the MCC has a very good relationship with the Philippine government and that the technical assessment of the Philippine compact proposal “is going very well.”

According to Romulo, the MCC mission was in the country from Dec. 12 to 18 to finalize the Philippines’ three compact project proposals on poverty alleviation.

Also at the meeting were MCC senior advisor to the CEO and Deputy White House Counsel Cassandra Butts, acting vice president for compact development Darius Teter, director for country relations Jerry Dutkewych, and Philippine Ambassador to Washington Willy Gaa.

The Philippines failed in its bid to get a multimillion-dollar grant from the MCC for failing to meet performance benchmarks, particularly control of corruption, but was allowed to continue the process of developing a compact grant in 2010.

It was the second straight year that the Philippines failed to get a significant share of the US government’s foreign assistance program.            

The Threshold Program, a $21-million grant assistance from the MCC, is focused on improving anti-corruption and revenue generation efforts of the Department of Finance (DOF), Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Bureau of Customs (BOC) and the Office of the Ombudsman.      – Pia Lee-Brago