What the Next Philippine President Must Do

The Philippine Daily Inquirer recently published an article titled,
What next president must do to grow economy

As advised by Albay Gov. Joey Salceda, a top economic adviser of President Macapagal-Arroyo, it went like this:

A well-sustained economy, poverty reduction, fiscal issues and control of corruption are the national imperative concerns that the next president should look into in order to attain higher economic growth.

A moment please…

Before I lose my train of thoughts, I have a relevant question to ask Gov. Joey Salceda.

My question:
Sir, during the two terms of the President Macapagal-Arroyo, were those also your repeated advice? Assuming you did advise the same, how much has been accomplished in real measurable terms?

From my appreciation of what troubles the Philippines most, Gov. Joey Salceda’s advice should be in this order of importance:

1. Control of corruption
2. Reduction of poverty
3. A well sustained Economy
4. Fiscal issues

It is ridiculous that Gov. Joey Salceda’s advice comes at the eleventh hour, a few months before the citizens vote for a new President. Like many of my countrymen, neither do I agree that President Macapagal-Arroyo and her Administration have addressed any of those priorities in a significant way nor will they leave a legacy of achievements for any of the advice given above.

Self delusion

A recent report by the Acting Local Chief Executive of Legazpi City, Albay wrote this about Legazpi City, Albay.

Why “Reaching out”? Amidst poverty in the economy and politics, aggression and disunity became an epidemic. Crisis in the leadership is likewise evident that resulted to confusion and vacuum in the governance.

If that is not convincing enough, how about this?

Meeting With the Governor of Albay Province, Philippines

Excerpts from the author, U.S Senator Pam Roach:

Well, this was a day to remember! Thank goodness I am leaving town!

My hosts arranged for a meeting with the governor of the province, Governor Joey Salceda. Mainly, we wanted to acquaint him with the hospital. But, we did want to bring up the fact that a container full of donated medical supplies and medicines sat on the dock in Manila for a year and a half before it was released.

Instead, the governor announced his most important issue was global warming and preceded to talk non-stop about that………..

You should not miss reading the the rest of that Article written by U.S Senator Pam Roach.

Now, don’t get me wrong. This isn’t a character assassination bid. This is just one of the countless examples about the demerits of Philippine politicians who have been entrusted with the noble duty to serve the populace.

As Governor of Albay, Joey Salceda needs first, to come to terms with the sorely needed improvement at his own Albay backyard before advising the President on a national scale or being presumptuous about what the future President must do. The blind leading the blind aptly describes this ironical situation for the Philippine economy.

About the “massive savings surplus” which Gov. Joey Salceda takes pride in, unfortunately it is not the sole indicator of economic growth. Why does Gov. Joey Salceda not mention the percentage of the Philippines population that lives below subsistence level?

It is the intrinsic strength and the purchasing power of the Peso that gauges the success for the Economic policies administered by the Government.

For the rest of Gov. Joey Salceda delivery, it can be said that it is comparably no better than what a student in Socio-Economics would echo parrot-wise from his text book.

Same old, same old. Nothing inspirational with these politicians, bureaucrats and advisers who share several things in common, such as:

- SELF BEFORE NATION
- MISSED AND SQUANDERED OPPORTUNITIES
- NO ACTION, TALK ONLY!