PARTIDO Reporma chairman and standard bearer Panfilo “Ping” Lacson said that a combination of President Duterte’s “Build, Build, Build” and President Aquino’s “Public Private Partnership” programs will be considered once he takes over as the 17th president of the republic.

In an interview with veteran journalist Malou Mangahas, Lacson said that Filipinos can expect him to build on the achievement of past administrations as he understands the value of good public infrastructure program.

According to the veteran legislator, he is open to continuing the infrastructure projects that would be left behind by the incumbent administration subject to the state of the country’s overall financial health.

As he recognized what the “Build, Build, Build” program of President Duterte tried to accomplish, Lacson said he is leaning towards the possible return of President Noy’s PPP approach.

“Sa halip na ‘Build, Build, Build,’ balik tayo sa PPP. Kasi baon tayo sa utang, dapat medyo i-compress natin nang konti ‘yung government expenditure, ‘yung public expenditure, kasi ngayon nasa P5-trillion na tayo,” Lacson said on ‘The Mangahas Interviews’ aired Saturday over GMA News.

The most experienced presidential candidate said that it is better to go back to that level of expenditure with lesser focus on infrastructure citing other things that take higher priority such as public health, productivity, among others.

Lacson saidhe believed that a shift to PPP would enable the government to keep building roads, bridges, and other public infrastructure projects that remain in the pipeline without sacrificing other areas of governance that equally need appropriate budgets.

“So, sa akin, maganda ‘yung ‘Build, Build, Build’ pero dapat… Baka pwedeng mag-shift tayo pabalik sa PPP (Public Private Partnership) kasi sobra na ‘yung requirement kung gobyernong mag-isa lang ang gagastos sa imprastruktura,” the former top cop said.

However, Lacson said his administration could not disregard infrastructure altogether because this is an investment and the foreign investors need it.

“If we don’t have enough infrastructure projects, we can’t expect foreign investments to keep flowing,” he pointed out.

Also, as part of his ongoing anti-corruption advocacy, Lacson said he would develop mechanisms that would ensure future infrastructure projects under his possible administration would be free from graft and other bad practices.

“May nakita tayong mga tulay kagagawa lamang, bagsak na, ‘yung mga ganoon. So, again, corruption pa rin ‘yon. Lahat ng activities, Malou, pagka pinag-aralan natin laging mayroong karugtong na corruption, may kahalo; kasali lagi ang corruption,” Lacson told Mangahas.

In his 2022 presidential bid, Lacson aims to re-establish a more trustworthy government for the Filipinos summed up in the messages of “Aayusin ang Gobyerno, Aayusin ang Buhay ng mga Pilipino.”