In a private chat with The Manila Times editor-in-chief Nerilyn Tenorio before his speech, Diokno said: “Build, Build, Build is on track. People should not be impatient.”Diokno was reacting to comments from Forum delegates around the table that they haven’t seen a flurry of construction activities around the country that one would expect from the much-talked about “Build, Build, Build” strategy under the “Dutertenomics” policy. “For this year alone, P858 billion or 5.4 percent of GDP has been allocated to infrastructure development,” he said. “In May last year, before the Duterte administration took power, I talked to the IMF and I said I wanted to expand our deficit-to-GDP ratio from 2 percent to 3 percent,” he said. Non-stop construction will be adopted next year and will be mandated in contracts that are up for implementation, Diokno said.

Source: Manila Times August 18, 2017 17:15 UTC