HALFWAY into an economic situation that may or may not result in a recession in the Philippines, a proposal by the United Nations to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) for a monitoring and response center is hanging fire.

“We’re still talking,” Neda Deputy Director General Rolando Tungpalan said Wednesday, after he met Tuesday with UN representatives.

He said the UN approached Neda and asked the agency to lead a Philippine “Crisis Monitoring and Response Center” (CMRC) steering committee to be composed of representatives from other government bodies—the National Anti-Poverty Commission, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the Departments of Social Welfare and Development, Labor and Employment, Trade and Industry and Finance, and the Office of the President.

Tungpalan said some funding was planned but he could not say offhand how much except that it would come from the UN.

Tungpalan said he told UN representatives the task force or CMRC should “look beyond the crisis and prepare for the upswing,” maintaining the view that the Philippine economy is not in a recession and is resilient against the impact of the recession that began in the United States.

He apparently had to say this because the UN concept for the task force was only for a year’s lifespan, he added.

The UN said the Philippines “could draw reference from the experience of Indonesia, on how its government, through the National Development Planning Agency (Bapennas), is responding” and that Neda could set up its own similar response system.