MANILA - The Philippine government aims to focus on public-private partnerships for infrastructure and local projects next year, Malacañang said on Wednesday.

Based on the National Economic and Development Authority's (NEDA) year-end report, Press Undersecretary Cheloy Garafil said the Marcos administration would do this to boost the economy and bolster job creation.

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"NEDA plans to steer the implementation of the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2023-2028, pursue its advocacy, and monitor the progress of plan implementation vis-à-vis targets," Garafil said.

President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. last week approved the Philippine Development Plan, which will map out the economic goals and strategies of the country under his term.

NEDA will also start the programming of national projects through an Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) appraisal and finalize the Regional Development Plan, said

Aside from these, the NEDA will also finalize the Public Investment Program (PIP) for 2023-2028 and the 3-year Rolling Infrastructure Plan (TRIP) set for 2024-2026.

Before the term of former President Rodrigo Duterte, PPP was the favored mode for financing large infrastructure projects. Duterte however opted for the government to finance the projects itself through official development assistance and other loans.

The Philippines' sovereign debt has hit P13.64 trillion as of end-October.

Meanwhile, NEDA also hopes to adopt the "five-year most favored nation tariff structure" as well as pass the 30 measures left in the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) common legislative agenda.

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This will be "based on the prioritization criteria," the statement read.

"The government socioeconomic planning body also carried out measures to help ease the impact of the global inflationary pressures, facilitated the adoption of the LEDAC-CLA, and helped implement the PhilSys," Garafil said.

The agency also touted the administration's 8-point socioeconomic agenda, which sought to solve the country's problems in the short- and long-term.

"These feats are in addition to the formulation of the PDP and organizing Regional Development Councils, which will serve as the primary institution that coordinates and sets the direction of all economic and social development efforts in the regions."

PHILSYS REGISTRATION

NEDA also said it is eyeing the completion of the registration of 92 million Filipinos for the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) by next year.

Marcos earlier this month ordered the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) to fast-track the printing of the digital national ID amid issues being encountered by the agency.

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PSA had said 71.1 million Filipinos have already registered for the national ID, with 25 million physical cards already issued.

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