In the first three years of the Duterte government it is clear that the country can demonstrate a will to continue growing, and do so despite external headwinds such as the US China Trade war, and the political noise and brickbats not to mention a midterm election.
That an upgrade in its credit ratings to BBB+ according to Standard and Poor lent credence to the belief that this growth has been sustained, and it being higher than Indonesia and at par with Thailand, serves to inform the world that its potentials for attracting investments are even more potent.
The lower unemployment, poverty and i nflation figures are a testament to the economic team’s reforms and their ability to improve economic conditions.
Politically, the resounding victory of the administration slate in the recent electons further cemented the popularity of the president and his governments efforts, now at a near all time high of 80% satisfaction according to the Social Weather Stations.
Already, the toughest reform was the Rice Tarrification bill that has allowed the importation and distribution of cheap rice and lowered inflation. This key reform has been long advocated by many economists and agricultural exports as they key to driving down food prices given that local production costs are higher than that of neighboring countries.
The major sentiment surrounding this advocacy is that farmers tilling the soil for rice cannot even afford the rice they produce. It would thus be better for them to plant things that gain more income for their efforts, and import rice instead.
It is against this backdrop that we must view new proposals to further strengthen our economic gains. A popular government can muster the will to institute tough reforms that previous governments were afraid to impose.
In the recent pre State of the Nation (SONA) activities, participants noted the need to sharpen the competitiveness of the country’s future workforce, improve the delivery of social services and attract more foreign direct investments (FDIs) top the list of “actionable” recommendations from the private sector during the first ‘Sulong Pilipinas’ consultative workshop held this year.
In a statement, Finance Assistant Secretary Antonio Joselito Lambino II, the No. 1 recommendation presented by the private sector during this year’s first Sulong workshop at the PICC was the refinement of the K-12 basic education program through the skills enhancement of instructors and integration of in-demand skills in the curricula.
Following after was the promotion of water security through the rehabilitation of existing water dams and the creation of a Cabinet-level Department in charge of water resources management; Also included was to push for the effective implementation of the Ease of Doing Business (EODB) Law.
Other recommendations on the list, ranked Nos. 4 to 6, were: making grants to enable technology transfer to stimulate the growth of innovative digital startups; strengthening agricultural infrastructure and logistics to boost farm productivity; and amending the Magna Carta for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), enacting the Warehouse Receipts Act and Weather-Indexed Agricultural Insurance plus accelerating efforts to address high foreign shipping costs and port congestion.
The rest of the recommendations, ranked Nos. 7 to 10, were: ensuring strong agency performance by appointing competent technocrats as secretaries of key departments; enacting a modern and sustainable national policy in land and marine use; rehabilitating and upgrading major railways and airports to boost tourism; and amending the Public Services Act, Right of Way (ROW) Act, and the economic provisions of the Constitution to fast-track infrastructure development, Lambino said.
You will note that these next set of recommendations already follow through from the ones coming out if previous “Sulong” activities, representing a further strengthening of the reforms obtained from the first 10 items of the Duterte governments socioeconomic agenda in 2016.
These reforms , including tax and infrastructure reforms have all been obtained in the first half of the Duterte presidency.
As initial gains have been achieved and the governments’ popularity strengthened, the task at hand is to push for the deeper implementation of these key reforms and achieve even better results. We have nowhere to go but up: higher and stronger.
