Philippines - Well done, but miles to go

WE have often been critical of President Aquino and his administration but we also believe in giving credit where it is deserved.

The Philippines’s 6.4 percent gross domestic product (GDP) rebound in the first quarter of 2012 ranks so far as the best among the 10 member-countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), and second only to China in Asia.

Economic growth of the country was higher than Indonesia’s 6.3 percent; Vietnam’s 4 percent; Singapore’s 1.6 percent; Thailand’s 0.3 percent; Hong Kong’s 0.4 percent; South Korea’s 2.8 percent; and Japan’s 2.8 percent. Only China’s 8.1 percent growth in the first quarter was higher than ours.

The National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) believes the economy would breeze through the next three quarters and meet the government’s growth targets or even exceed them by the end of the year, and not a few noted economists agree.

Victor Abola, economist at the University of Asia and the Pacific (UAP), said a growth of 5 percent to 6 percent would easily be attainable and exceeding it is possible, buoyed by such factors such as the Department of Public Works and Highway’s rollout of various infrastructure projects in the early part of 2012.

Economist and Albay Gov. Joey Salceda said the country’s 6.4-percent growth is sustainable based on continued strong inflows of remittances, rising inbound tourism revenues and a low and sustained inflation environment underpinning household consumption.

Remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from January to April have already reached $6.5 billion—5.4 percent higher than the $6.2 billion sent in the same period in 2011—proof of the Filipino work force’s competitiveness in world labor markets despite the European debt crisis and recent conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa.

We welcome this positive development, even as we urge the government to do more in order to ensure better wages and benefits for workers and invest more on skills training programs so that Filipino workers can get better jobs whether locally or overseas.

The government should allocate more funds for state-run training programs to address the perennial problem of skills mismatch. It should accelerate training and retraining schemes to ensure that workers skills are constantly upgraded and can cope with the demands of international competition.

The government wants to attract more foreign direct investments but the important thing to ask is—do we have enough skilled workers for all the investments we are trying to bring in?

President Aquino brought home $2.5 billion worth of investments from his recent trips to the United States and the United Kingdom, an outstanding job no doubt, but we must make sure that our workers have the skills required for the new jobs these investments would create.

We also wish to cite the administration’s anticorruption efforts, and sound and honest fiscal management, which have greatly improved business confidence in the country and the Philippines’s integrity in the international community.

In less than two years, the country has received six credit-ratings upgrades from the New York-based Moody’s Investors Service, with another one possibly coming within the next six months to 18 months.

Moody’s Analytics, the economic research unit of Moody’s Investors Services, cited the government’s anticorruption drive and big push for infrastructure development as factors that help attract foreign investors and speed up the country’s economic growth.

While corruption cannot be completely stamped out, significantly curbing corruption and improving transparency is bound to make the government more efficient and will boost investments in social and economic services.

Of course, there is still a lot to do, but even its most jaundiced critics must admit things under the Aquino administration have not been nearly as bad as they make them out to be.

There is certainly less mistrust between the government and the people, which in the past has led to frustration and despondency, if not violent protests on the streets. The economy is on the right track. We are respected around the world far more than we were in the previous administration.

These are not bad, indeed. While we may not always offer full-throated support for the President in this corner, we are not beyond giving him a pat on the back every now and then.

The BusinessMirror Editorial

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