By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo / Special to the BusinessMirror

THE Spanish government is looking at other areas in which to strengthen its bilateral cooperation with the Philippines, with a possible increase in financial assistance for the period 2018 to 2022.

In an interview on the sidelines of the Madrid Fusión Manila 2017 on April 6 at the SMX Convention Center, Spainish Ambassador to the Philippines Luis Antonio Calvo told the BusinessMirror that his government’s assistance reached €50 million for the 2014-to-2017 cooperation period.

“[For the next three years], it depends on the budget.

The budget is being discussed right now at the Cortes Generales; I think, it might be slightly more than that.”

Priority areas for Spain’s cooperation program with the Philippines for 2014 to 2017 are democratic governance, disaster risk reduction and quality response to humanitarian crises. Its aid focuses mainly on the Bicol region and the Zamboanga Peninsula, specifically the Caraga region.

But Calvo said Spanish businessmen are still waiting for clarity regarding the macroeconomic situation in the Philippines before making their investments.

“They are trying to see into the future; they would like to have a clearer picture of how the macroeconomics, tax policy and so on is going to be,” said the ambassador, who is now in his third year of representing the Spanish government in the Philippines.

“I think, we are in the 10th month of this administration…it is going to be much clearer in the short term. So, they will probably wait and see a bit longer before they will make a decision that involve future resources and physical areas, such as infrastructure, trade and so on.”

Data provided by the Philippine Embassy in Madrid showed total foreign direct investments by Spain in the Philippines reached $39 million from 2006 to 2015. Trade between both countries is in favor of Spain at $136 million in 2015, although exports to Spain have been growing an average of 11.13 percent per annum since 2011.

In an e-mail, Gerardo P. Abiog, the first secretary and consul in charge of political and economic affairs at the Philippine Embassy in Madrid, said: “Like any other foreign investor, the main concern of Spanish firms are the restrictions of foreign ownership, as well as procedures on government bids and awards.”

Abiog noted that there were several Spanish companies that have already participated in public-partnership projects, such as “OHL [Obrascon Huarte Lain], which was part of the Ayala Group consortium for the Cavite-Laguna Expressway [Calax]; Grupo ACS [Actividades de Construccion y Servicios] through its affiliate [Leighton Contractors] for the airport projects; and Abengoa for the Bulacan Water Supply and New Centennial Water projects.”

The European Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines has expressed its concern over the Duterte administration’s “bloody war” on drugs, which, it said, was creating uncertainty and scaring off investors.

Spain and the Philippines, however, have a long history of bilateral cooperation stretching back to 1974. A former colony of Spain, the Philippines has been one of the major recipients of Spanish development aid.

In the last cooperation program of 2014 to 2017, the Philippines was the only country in the Asia-Pacific region that received development aid from Spain.

The cooperation program for 2018 to 2021, said Calvo, “will probably be discussed in a joint commission that will be held sometime in the last quarter of [2017],” with the National Economic and Development Authority, the Department of Finance and the Department of Foreign Affairs, among others.

He said in the assessment of the most recent cooperation, the findings were “very positive, in the sense that, on our side, we have been able to concentrate from the geographic point of view and the sectoral point of view, cooperation so it can be have as much impact possible. Do not disperse too much to make your presence felt in the areas where we want them to be felt, basically Mindanao—Caraga and Zamboanga regions—and also Bicol region. And this is very positive because I think this is one of the targets, and the other is you have to spend at least 80 percent of the total amount in the projects you have prioritized.”

He added Spain has also been able to focus on areas where it “can make a difference, which is working with the [local government units] and trying to build capacities at that level, assistance and cooperating with the national disaster risk-reduction management system, trying as well to make a contribution to the peace process in Mindanao, which means we are working together with the Commission on Human Rights for the [Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao], and trying to work with the [non-governmental organizations] and civil-society organizations in Mindanao to assist in the grassroots level.”

Calvo said the challenge is “to continue to build on that and try with the same amount of funds, or slightly more, to be as effective.”

Spain is now looking to replicate its successful Bicol model in national disaster risk-reduction management “to as many as eight other provinces in the country that have been identified in accordance with the [Department of the Interior and Local Government].

He cited Zambales in Luzon, and said other places in the Visayas and Mindanao would benefit from this assistance, which will be in a “mix of grants and subsidies and soft loans, to finance the setting up of this system in the eight provinces.”