The STIC Program focuses on the availability and affordability of infrastructure services that allow businesses to compete with regional counterparts on a level playing field. Research and advocacy are geared toward privatization and regulatory reform.

The Program promotes research and actual policy advocacy projects that aim to establish competitive infrastructure systems and services to support Philippine industries and citizens through appropriate public policies on credible regulation and good governance based on sound management.

Through the Program, the AIM Policy Center brings infrastructure issues out into the open for discussion, leading to resolution. With its focus on the management of infrastructure and the role of institutions, the Program has tackled many issues by engaging in study, reflection and dialogue, the various stakeholders involved, such as leaders of government, the private organizations, non-government organizations, business and civil society. Through the papers produced and events organized under the program, a number of policy recommendations have been echoed to key players.

A signal achievement of the program in terms of proactively pursuing a set agenda, backed by research and analyses, is its role in the introduction of reforms in the electric power industry. In working on the landmark Electric Power Industry Reforming Act (EPIRA) Bill, the IGRP actively brought in various stakeholders for discussion and lobbied intensely with them for the passage of the Bill. With EPIRA followed more strategies aimed at bringing electricity costs to more competitive levels.

Apart from this, the Center, through its IGRP, has been at the forefront of issues by holding conferences and publishing papers on a wide array of infrastructure topics. It has accumulated and provided for national and local leaders, policy-makers and academicians, a vast resource of studies and policy papers to aid in understanding various perspectives of issues and to support their particular advocacy activities.

STIC in 2009

The Program will be focusing on two key areas for year 2009: energy & environment, and science, technology & innovation. As such, the two flagship projects of the Program will be the Energy Policy Series and specific involvements as a core member of the Filipinnovation Network.

In the past two years, through the Program, the AIM Policy Center was able to engage notable experts in the fields of energy, environment, and the sciences such as: Atty. Gia Ibay and the klima group of the Manila Observatory, experts in the Clean Development Mechanism; Mr. Larry Asera, noted investor in renewable energy projects; Mr. Terrence O’ Brien, a senior official of the California Energy Commission; Dr. Cho Khong, Chief Political Analyst of Shell International; Mr. Sohail Hasnie, Senior Economist of the Asian Development Bank; and Hon. Angelo Reyes, Secretary of the Department of Energy.

The Energy Policy Series (EPS) is designed to gather inputs and various insights on energy policies in the Philippines, the Asian region and other parts of the world. Policy papers and other materials from the Energy Policy Series will serve as the foundation for the eventual design of an energy-oriented course that will be offered by the Asian Institute of the Management through one of its schools. The EPS, which began in 2008, will continue on until the end of 2009, after which, it is hoped that the course and its materials will be in place. In the meantime, the EPS hopes to begin beefing up the library of the AIM Policy Center with extensive materials on energy and environment. The lectures under the EPS have been supported by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, Pilipinas Shell Corporation, among others.

The IGRP hopes to release publications on the previous lectures and roundtable discussion under the EPS during the first quarter of 2009, and will resume with the Series on the succeeding quarter – right in time for the anniversary of the first EPS workshop.

Beyond the EPS, IGRP’s advocacy on energy and environment will include furthering its existing partnerships with government agencies, such as the Department of Energy and the Energy Regulatory Commission, on activities involving policy review, sectoral strategic planning, information dissemination, and capacity-building to enhance policies. In 2007 and 2008, together with the USAID-Energy and Clean Air Program (ECAP), the IGRP has worked with these government agencies on the Philippine Energy Plan and the ERC @ 2011 Plan, under the administrations of Secretary Angelo Reyes and Chairman Rodolfo Albano, respectively.

The IGRP, in partnership with The Asia Foundation, has also worked on various power sector reform initiatives that have lead to discussions and workshops with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), the House of Representatives, and other power sector stakeholders on power rates, open access and other provisions in the Electric Power Industry Act (EPIRA).

For its advocacies on S&T and Innovation, the IGRP will continue its close relations with the Filipinnovation Network, the Philippines’ National Innovation Network, which it co-founded with the Department of Science and Technology and several other stakeholders from the private and public sectors. Previously, the Program worked closely with the DOST on the creation of the National Innovation Strategy or “Filipinnovation,” which was unveiled by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in November of 2007. In the coming year, under the Network, the Program will be participating in the activities of the technical working groups on “Regenerating the Innovation Environment” and “Upgrading the Filipino Mindset.” Together with other members of the Network.

Other S&T and innovation advocacies will include the furtherance of its relationship with the Joint Congressional Commission on Science, Technology, and Engineering (COMSTE) on national policies on S&T and innovation for competitiveness, the DOST on ICT4D (ICT for Development) and other initiatives, and individual scientists and their associations.

Selected Publications

1. Clean Development Mechanism: New Challenges for the Philippines by Anna Mae T. Tuazon. June 2008. (partner: KAF)
2. A Primer on the Clean Development Mechanism by Anna Mae T. Tuazon, Carlo Francis V. Raymundo and Anselmo Noe Salang III. June 2008. (partner: KAF)
3. ICT for Development (ICT4D) policy papers on ICT Entrepreneurship, Governance, Education and the Creative Industries. December 2008. (partner: DOST) writers: Carlo Francis V. Raymundo, Anna Mae T. Tuazon, and Jhoanne L. Estipular