Wish list for a true ‘golden age’

On the issue of corruption, is this crucial aspect of governance a priority of the new administration, and does it have the political will to pursue it?

Contrary to recent unfounded claims, our country never experienced a “golden age” of prosperity since it gained its independence almost eight decades ago in 1946. Although we had the initial advantage over our Asian neighbors, we never realized our potential to be a “tiger economy” in our region. Instead, through the years, we were steadily overtaken by the likes of South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and even the late bloomers like China and Vietnam, which are not even democracies.

But based on undisputed official data, we came closest to this elusive economic Holy Grail when we gained unparalleled momentum under the largely unheralded administration of the late President Benigno Aquino III from 2010 to 2016. It was during this period that our gross domestic product grew at an average of 6.6 percent annually from 2014 to 2016, the highest in four decades, and one of the best sustained performances among Asian countries at that time.

Upgrade credit standing

It was also during this period that for the first time in our history the major international credit rating agencies upgraded the Philippines to investment-grade level, a distinct advantage in terms of spurring economic activity by securing substantially lower interest rates. Together with this, foreign direct investment grew at an all-time high. The total in 2014 was $6.1 billion, more than double those of preceding years.

On top of all this, our country’s global economic indices showed dramatic progress on every front: in the Economic Freedom Index, it rose from 115th place in 2010 to 70th in 2015; in Global Competitiveness, it went up dramatically from 85th in 2010 to 47th in 2015; and in the Global Enabling Trade Index, it improved from 92nd to 64th. Almost overnight, the Philippines had transformed itself from “the sick man of Asia” to “Asia’s rising tiger,” in the words of international economic experts.

On the local front, the consumer price index held steady at an all-time low inflation rate of 1.4 percent at the end of 2015, enabling our countrymen to retain the purchasing power of their pesos. On top of this, the unemployment rate at the start of 2016 was at a mere 5.8 percent, the lowest in several decades.

Lower poverty

The next major task was to significantly trickle down the benefits of these economic achievements to lower the poverty incidence in our country, which, according to the latest figures released by the Philippines Statistics Authority (PSA), was at 23.3 percent in 2015, still a fairly high figure for a developing country.

Under the next administration (and before the COVID-19 pandemic), the country was able to lower its poverty rate further to 21.1 percent in 2018. But with the advent of the pandemic in 2020, poverty incidence rose once more to 23.7 by the first half of 2021.

Moving forward, the first and most important item on my simple wish list for the newly installed administration is to get back on track in reducing poverty among the vast majority of our countrymen.

In concrete terms, this means uplifting 26.14 million Filipinos who live below the poverty threshold (estimated at P12,082 per month for a family of five). Worse, there are an estimated 10.94 million Filipinos (9.9 percent of the population) living below subsistence level, or the monthly food threshold of P8,393. (Data source: PSA)

This appears to be a tall order, and it involves addressing a host of other economic and social issues, but the bottom line is, it can be done, and has been done based on the track record of previous administrations.

Measures have been put in place for this purpose, e.g. the

Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps); greater access to free education (Universal Access to Quality Education Act of 2017); greater access to affordable health care (Universal Healthcare Act of 2019); job creation through megaprograms, such as the “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure plan, etc. While continuing these programs assiduously, the current administration can initiate new antipoverty measures of its own.

Alleviating the widespread and worsening poverty situation in our country is the doorway to the much-vaunted but elusive “golden age” every Filipino aspires for, and which some of our countrymen were falsely led to believe we had already experienced sometime in our past.

Minimizing corruption

The second item in my short wish list is to minimize the blight of corruption, which robs Filipinos of access to otherwise available public funds for their benefit in many social services and developmental undertakings.

It has been estimated that up to 40 percent of our country’s annual funds are lost to corruption and inefficiency in government. Putting it succinctly, an international economic observer once stated that there were three things that prevented our country from achieving its potential. These were: corruption, corruption and corruption.

Again, minimizing corruption is not an impossible task. We had made significant progress in this area not long ago. In the Corruption Perception Index of Transparency International, the global anticorruption watchdog, the Philippines rose from 146th place in 2010 to 101st in 2016, a dramatic climb of 45 places among 180 countries in the world. With political will and a firm commitment to good governance, minimizing corruption is very achievable.

This has been proven in many developed countries, including our Asian neighbors, where corruption has been kept at bay with severe penalties for offenders, including high government officials and even heads of state.

The big question: Is this crucial aspect of governance a priority of the newly installed administration, and does it have the political will to pursue it?

Political dynasties

The last item on my wish list is another tough nut to crack— political dynasties.

As I had observed in a previous piece, dynastic families are the real oligarchs in our fragmented political landscape, heavily populating both the legislative and executive branches of government.

Although apologists for political dynasties (none other than the members of these families themselves) are quick to rationalize that qualified people from the same family should not be barred from seeking political office, the undeniable fact is that their virtual stranglehold on elective positions prevents equally or much better qualified opponents from ever winning an election in their turf. This is precisely why there is a provision against political dynasties in our Constitution.

This is the big challenge: How can we make those who directly benefit from this political aberration pass an implementing law abolishing their builtin advantage? Political family dynasties give rise to many social ills. Just to name a few: promoting political patronage; impunity in violating election laws; institutionalizing local corruption; perpetuating a feudal mentality; and encouraging a dependency mindset among their poorer constituents. The list goes on.

Admittedly, this wish list does not cover every possible measure which will hopefully lead to our country’s proverbial “golden age” of prosperity. But addressing the basic issues cited above will go a long way to help get us back on the pat, which will ultimately lead us to “the promised land,” after years of meandering in the political desert.