There are a lot more “Ps” than the 3Ps in public-private partnerships (PPPs). For the Department of Interior and Local Government, what is being advanced is PPPP, or P4. The fourth P is People, underscoring the true north of all PPPs, or any government program or project for that matter.
In my column on October 3, 2016, I touched on Achieving Better Quality of Life as the value driver of this development strategy. PPP, as a transformational vehicle, must be geared toward changing the status quo. The now must be compared to the expected future and the future must be better, not just good or okay.
PPPs are utilized for more services, better services, affordable services and timely services. “More” and “better” are the key words here. People is the purpose. PPP is better for a purpose.
That column is the first of the series on Ps in PPPs. Aside from the series under PPP Lead—PPP Conversations and Dissecting PPP Contracts —this columnist will discuss other Ps. The second P, to further stress the People in PPPs, is Patriotism.
Patriotism differentiated from Nationalism. Sydney Harris wrote that “the difference between patriotism and nationalism is that the patriot is proud of his country for what it does, and the nationalist is proud of his country no matter what it does; the first attitude creates a feeling of responsibility, but the second a feeling of blind arrogance that leads to war.”
Quora.com further explains, “patriorism is proud of a country’s virtues and eager to correct its deficiencies xxx while the pride of nationalism xxx denies its deficiencies xxx.”
Yes, there are deficiencies. There are policy, infrastructure, financing and integrity gaps. The country lacks roads, mass-transport systems, hospitals, power facilities, adequate water supply, bridges and socialized housing units, among other hard and soft projects. The government, on its own, does not have the monopoly over solutions, ideas, resources and good intention. Partnerships is critical and resource exchange necessary.
PPP addresses the deficiencies. PPP is one way (but not the only way) by which these gaps may be plugged. PPPs calls on the parties—government (national government agencies, government-owned and -controlled corporations and instrumentalities, and local government units) and private sector proponents (PSPs)—to co-own, co-create, codevelop, coauthor,
codetermine, codrive, cosign, co-learn, co-fund, codesign, co-evaluate, co-communicate, co-sell, co-support and co-think.
The parties are not the only patriots. The parties to a PPP contract are not the only ones who can and should bring this country to greatness and goodness. The President, Congress, courts and regulatory agencies, and civil-society organizations and taxpayers are all challenged. We are all called to be patriots. We must be part of the solution. Fencesitters are not patriots.
Love, devotion and inspiration. Patriots, us, must vigorously love our country, and passionately devote ourselves to partnering with the government. We must be unwavering in our commitment to inspire others, to unlearn-learn-relearn, and to participate in programs of the government. If our country fails, the government is not the only one to blame.