‘Not bad’
That is, generally, the fair assessment many people have of President Marcos’ first full year in office.
Around this time last year, Filipinos were suffering the worst of the pandemic-induced inflation blowback which saw prices of many basic goods and services skyrocket due to the surge in demand as the effects of the crisis began to wane.
Today, the prices of these commodities have stabilized and many have shown signs of a downtrend that will hopefully continue going forward. To a large extent, the President helped make this happen by ordering his economic managers to implement policies that will unchoke supply bottlenecks and help bring goods to end users faster and at a lower cost.
At the same time, the Marcos administration has taken concrete steps to accelerate the country’s infrastructure buildup program that was started by previous presidents, but this time with a key policy shift of leveraging more of the private sector’s resources and execution expertise. This subtle change reverses the ill-advised plan of the previous administration which was for the government to shoulder the cost of multibillion-dollar projects and build all these itself, which had the unfortunate result of bloating the state’s already high levels of debt.
Today, airports, seaports, highways, and subways are being built in partnership with private corporations who are putting their own capital at risk in lieu of taxpayer money.
On the international front, the President took a firm stand against China’s illegal territorial expansion into the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone which the previous administration downplayed in order to court Beijing’s favor.
Today, the Philippines has corrected its geopolitical drift toward the Chinese mainland and returned to its more pragmatic alliance with the West, especially the United States with which the country shares many important values like democracy and the rule of law, not to mention a tight cultural embrace spanning over a century.
All these, along with a slew of less headline-grabbing (but certainly not less worthy) achievements which can be credited to the Chief Executive’s policies.
Today, as Mr. Marcos delivers his second State of the Nation Address, we should take stock of all that he and his administration have done, and remember that there is a lot more that needs to be done.
While inflation has come under control, prices of basic items—especially food, fuel, and most everything else needed for a decent life — remain expensive and beyond the reach of many Filipinos. Granted that the President’s much-panned vow to bring the price of rice down to P20 per kilo was nothing but a campaign promise made to gain votes but never fulfilled, his administration would still do well to bring commodity prices down further for the benefit of millions of Filipinos who were laid low by the economic devastation of the pandemic.
Mr. Marcos would also do well to spend some of his considerable political capital on solving long-standing problems that previous administrations neglected to address for one reason or another.
The most important of these is to improve the quality of education in the Philippines to empower future generations of Filipinos to lift themselves out of poverty and make themselves productive members of society.
Doing so will result in a country where topline economic growth numbers will not only be impressive but also more inclusive. And for growth to be inclusive, people need not only education and cheaper food but also need better mobility to be able to get from their homes to their workplaces and back while still having enough time and energy for quality time with their families.
And to promote growth further, the President needs to recommit to the rule of law so that investors will feel confident about building their businesses here and tourists will be drawn to the many attractions that the Philippines has to offer.
To be sure, there is some truth to the oft-repeated line that Mr. Marcos is enjoying the benefits of the low-performance base and low expectations created by his predecessor.
Indeed, for many Filipinos, just being able to go to bed without hearing the Chief Executive spewing vile cusswords in late-night national addresses or waking up to news about dozens upon dozens of drug war suspects killed by authorities overnight is already a big plus in favor of the current president.
But not being like the previous president can only take Mr. Marcos and the nation so far. For the Philippines and Filipinos to reach their full potential, the President and his team must buckle down to work and use the next five years to their fullest.
The President’s first year in office definitely wasn’t bad. But the next year or years should definitely be better, for the sake of millions of Filipinos who continue to strive for a better life.
