Thread by @newswatchplusph

THREAD: President Duterte's economic managers hold a pre-SONA economic and infrastructure forum. Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III says PH has the fiscal stamina to prevail over the COVID-19 crisis | LIVE bit.ly/2Qvh31e

Tweets by our correspondent @meltlopez

@meltlopez DOF Sec. Dominguez cites Duterte's campaign promises which have been achieved for the past 5 years: Then the COVID-19 pandemic came and disrupted everything

@meltlopez DOF Sec. Dominguez: The country's debt burden rose to 54.5% of GDP in 2020, or ₱9.8 trillion from ₱7.7 trillion as of end-2019.

He says the Philippines has "ample borrowing capacity to absorb the large financial shock" brought about by the pandemic.

@meltlopez DOF Sec. Dominguez: Build, Build, Build infrastructure program to be the main driver of economic recovery.

He adds the gov't targets to vaccinate 70M Filipinos, or 100% of adult population, within 2021.

@meltlopez DOF Sec. Dominguez says among the DOF's priority measures is a bill that will raise GOCC dividend remittances from 50% to 75% of their annual income to the national government to raise additional revenues.

@meltlopez NEDA Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua says Filipinos may sign up for a national ID online starting April 30, but will still need to provide biometric data in person later on

@meltlopez NEDA Sec. Chua shares a list of 12 priority measures of the LEDAC for passage by June 2021, mainly to revive the economy and boost state revenue collections. Congress is in recess and will resume plenary sessions by mid-May.

@meltlopez NEDA Sec. Chua admits that the 6.5-7.5% growth forecast for 2021 may be missed due to the return to ECQ and MECQ in the greater Manila area. Last year, the economy shrank by 9.6%.

He adds that economic recovery to pre-pandemic levels will only be achieved by 2022.

@meltlopez Bangko Sentral Governor Ben Diokno says 6-7% growth may be doable for 2021, lower than the 6.5-7.5% official growth forecast from the economic team

@meltlopez DPWH Secretary Mark Villar says 653 out of 816 targeted quarantine facilities/modular hospitals for COVID-19 patients have been set up for pandemic response.

@meltlopez Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade outlines targets for the railway sector

@meltlopez Tugade says LRT-2 East Extension project, which will add train stations in Marikina and Antipolo, will be operational by June 2021, later than the April target due to COVID-19 case surge and fresh lockdowns.

@meltlopez DTI Secretary Mon Lopez says digitalization of government processes has shortened the business registration process.

@meltlopez Agriculture Secretary William Dar says 10 companies have been tapped for pilot tests of pig vaccines vs African Swine Fever.

@meltlopez Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. shows the Philippines' long-haul plan for COVID-19 recovery: By 2022, we will achieve vaccine security by seeking local capacity for production.

@meltlopez LOOK: Financing plan for the country's vaccine purchases in 2021.

@meltlopez Status of COVID-19 vaccine procurement according to Galvez:

@meltlopez Galvez says Moderna has submitted this afternoon an application for emergency use of its COVID-19 vaccine in the country

@meltlopez DTI says some 500,000 jobs were restored during MECQ but 1M workers remain displaced: That’s the reason why if case numbers and healthcare capacity are improving, maybe it can justify a return to GCQ. That is the thinking on our end.

@meltlopez Dominguez says economic team looking for additional revenue sources to fund the Bayanihan 3 stimulus plan proposed in Congress. The plans include cutting gov't expenses, demanding bigger GOCC dividends bit.ly/3xsuBvg