My SONA Thoughts: ECONOMY

Photo credits: Tehrantimes.com

This is my third part of my SONA thoughts. This time, I will lay-out what PGMA said about the Philippine economy. Mind you, I am not a pretending economist or whatsoever honoris causa ek-ek. But I will give my thoughts on this one – on the matter how I understand it.

PGMA stated in her SONA the general state of the Philippine economy:

It has affected us already. But the story of the Philippines in 2008 is that the country weathered a succession of global crises in fuel, in food, then in finance and finally the economy in a global recession, never losing focus and with economic fundamentals intact.

A few days ago, Moody’s has just announced the upgrade of our credit rating, citing the resilience of our economy. The state of our nation is a strong economy. Good news for our people, bad news for our critics.

PGMA on taxes:

The strong, bitter and unpopular revenue measures of the past few years have spared our country the worst of the global financial shocks. They gave us the resources to stimulate the economy. Nabigyan nila ang pinakamalaking pagtaas ng IRA ng mga LGU na P40 billion itong taon, imparting strength throughout the country and at every level of government.

The result of those strong, bitter and unpopular revenue measures are:

Compared to the past, we have built more and better infrastructure, including those started by others but left unfinished. The Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway is a prime example of building better roads. It creates wealth as the flagship of the Subic-Clark corridor.

We have built airports of international standard, upgraded domestic airports, built seaports and the RORO system. I ask Congress for a Philippine Transport Security Authority Law.. Some say that after this SONA, it will be all politics. Sorry, but there’s more work..

Sa telecommunications naman, inatasan ko ang Telecommunications Commission na kumilos na tungkol sa mga sumbong na dropped calls at mga nawawalang load sa cellphone. We need to amend the Commonwealth-era Public Service Law. And we need to do it now..

Kung noong nakaraan, lumakas ang electronics, today we are creating wealth by developing the BPO and tourism sectors as additional engines of growth. Electronics and other manufactured exports rise and fall in accordance with the state of the world economy. But BPO remains resilient. With earnings of $6 billion and employment of 600,000, the BPO phenomenon speaks eloquently of our competitiveness and productivity. Let us have a Department of ICT..

PGMA on Inflation:

Our average inflation is the lowest since 1966. Last June, it dropped to 1.5%. Paano nakamit ito? Proper policies lowered interest rates, which lowered costs to business and consumers.

PGMA on public debt to GDP ratio:

The next generation will also benefit from our lower public debt to GDP ratio. It declined from 78% in 2000 to 55% in 2008. We cut in half the debt of government corporations from 15% to 7. Likewise foreign debt from 73% to 32%. Kung meron man tayong malaking kaaway na tinalo, walang iba kundi ang utang, iyong foreign debt. Past administrations conjured the demon of foreign debt. We exorcised it..

PGMA on more taxes for alcohol and cigars:

Taxes should come from alcohol and tobacco and not from books. Tax hazards to lungs and livers, do not tax minds. Ang kita mula sa buwis sa alak at sigarilyo ay dapat pumunta sa kalusugan at edukasyon. Sa kalusugan, pondohan ang Philhealth premiums ng pinakamahihirap. Ponhodhan ang mas maraming classroom at computers…

PGMA on economic growth and GDP:

Since then, our economy has posted uninterrupted growth for 33 quarters; more than doubled its size from $76 billion to $186 billion. The average GDP growth from 2001 to the first quarter of 2009 is the highest in 43 years.

No doubt that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is an economist. She is hell-bent in reducing the inflation, debts and implementing tax measures. However, the tough part of this nut is how to translate the numbers into tangible proofs. That’s where the real challenge is. In case you have seen the commercial from the Office of the President, it proudly states the 7% GDP in 2007.

It may seem that some people should be happy with the 7% GDP which is indeed for the record books. However, some peeps are questioning the validity of that 7% GDP. If the Philippines experienced 7% GDP, then why there are still families that go hungry? Why are there many people losing their jobs?

Again, translating the numbers into tangible proofs is really tough. We can easily compute numbers. Heck, an average economics student can compute our country’s GDP and GNP. But how can you translate it into something believable?

On the other side of the card, putting up efforts to drive the economy to prosperity is not just like an overnight cream put into your face, hoping that the next day, your acne will be gone. It may take years for the common filipino to feel the effects of the so-called growth. The key here is the spontaneous driving of the economy to prosperity. That also means rehabilitating the corrupt sub-culture in our society. Corruption is the biggest hurdles in economic progress.

There are some points that I agree with like the heavy taxes on alcohol and cigars. That will be better than taxing the books. Anyway, alcohol and cigars are bad for health. Why not tax it more para yung mga tao e hindi na malulong sa mga ganyang bisyo? I think its one way of controlling those vices so that our population will be healthy and free from vices. Of course, it can also help lessen the health care costs of the population and yes, peace and order. Prohibiting alcohol may have an effect in controlling peace and order. Pag walang mga lasinggero sa lansangan, menos din ang gulo right?

I have more suggestions on this one:

1. Create programs that will effectively utilize our human capital instead of letting them fly away as OFW’s and migrants. The Philippines is suffering from long years of brain drain. If our country do not have the intellectual resources, how can we ever progress. Hindi naman lahat tayo e forever ng OFW right? The government should find ways in relying on its own two feet – not relying too much on OFWs and foreign investors.

2. The government should be transparent with its spending. Eto yung supposed to be goal ni GMA right? The government should show to the public its expenditures because anyway, that’s the citizen’s money they are spending right? Even the president’s travels abroad, dapat controlled yan. Hindi yung puro bangaw ang nakikita ko sa kada foreign trip ni Arroyo.

Overall, in fairness to our economy, we are quite lucky than with our Western counterparts. Some of us think that the Philippines is indeed sh*t poor but before you think or say something like that – try to look into these countries: Zimbabwe, Somalia, United States and Iceland.

Zimbabwe is a country running on hyperinflation, meaning that you need a basket full of money before you can buy a loaf of bread. Somalia is an African country torn by civil wars and intense politics. Some of the Somalis have resorted to piracy in order to survive. Iceland is the first casualty of the global recession – it went bankrupt last year and its government are trying hard to pump the needed cash into its economy. And lastly, United States because they have been into recession since December 2007 and thousands of Americans have lost their homes and jobs.

So that’s why peeps, I dont think that our country is sh*t poor. We are still breathing in terms of economic survival.

That’s all for now, folks. More to come.

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Tags: gloria macapagal arroyo, PGMA, philippines, silver, SONA, State of the nation address 2009