Friday, March 29, 2024

Aquino stands by P8-B PCARI project

For the first time since a controversy broke out regarding the legality of the program, Pres. Benigno S. Aquino III spoke out in defense of the Philippine-California Advanced Research Institutes or PCARI Project.

Pres. Benigno S. Aquino III with SEIPI president Danilo Lachica during the 12th CEO Forum and 114th general membership meeting of SEIPI at the Solaire Resort and Casino

Speaking at the meeting of the SEIPI (Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Inc.) general meeting at the Solaire Resort and Casino in Para?aque City on Monday, Oct. 21, Aquino said the project will serve both the needs of the academe and the industries.

Under PCARI, Aquino said the Institute for Information Infrastructure Development, or IIID, will focus on research and development for increased competitiveness of the ICT, and the semiconductor and electronics industries.

?These may seem like lofty ambitions, especially for a country that can be considered to be behind its neighbors in terms of innovation, science, and technological research, and even in electronics,? he said.

?But let me remind you: Wasn?t it just a few years ago when everyone thought that the Philippines would always be the laggard in regional economic growth? Today, we are constantly one of the fastest growers, if not, at times, the fastest grower,? he continued.

It can be recalled that former Commission on Higher Education commissioner Nona Ricafort branded the PCARI project as ?anomalous? and disadvantageous to the Philippines.

At the SEIPI event, Aquino told semicon firms that despite a year-on-year decline in the electronic industry?s share in total exports, there is still reason to be optimistic.

?I?m told an additional 31,000 Filipinos found employment with you in 2012. There is also the ten-percent increase in the investments your industry recorded, from 2.45 billion dollars in 2011 to 2.7 billion dollars in 2012.

?And I am told that there was also an increase in the importation of materials for the manufacture of electrical equipment in May and July this year ? maybe in anticipation of a higher demand for electronics in the world market,? he said.

Aquino also cited the launch of the Advanced Device and Materials Testing Laboratory, or Admatel, established by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

He said failure analysis and other tests can be conducted in the facility as opposed to sending products to other countries ? potentially cutting down on expenses and the time it takes between the production of and actual export of products.

?I?m also told that this facility will help you gain more contracts as it shortens the time from conceptualization to actual exports,? he said.

Aquino said that in the nine months that Admatel has been operational, 19 companies and institutions from the semicon industry?16 from SEIPI ? have already benefited from its services.

?As I understand it, SEIPI has 254 member companies. So perhaps I can take this opportunity to invite the remaining 238 to come see and test our facilities,? he said.

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