Economic recovery and presidential lethargy

The Philippines ends 2013, a year plagued by nightmarish news, with its political leadership seeking refuge in complacency and short of fresh initiatives to give impetus to reconstruction plans for typhoon-devastated Eastern Visayas.

As the country enters 2014, the Aquino administration sent out a powerful but cheerless message to the nation: A yearend feel-good report describing 2013 as “a year of challenges” despite the economy posting “some of the highest growth numbers in Asia.”

The report said it was during the year that “our collective commitment to preserve and to stand shoulder to shoulder enabled us to overcome the trials set before us, thus making the world admire and respect us all the more.”

The report talked about a “remarkable year for the Filipino—one in which “the President showed indomitable will to lead the nation forward” and “where the mandate for change was renewed in the midterm elections.” The report sounded like a preview of 2014.

Obviously. It was out of place in the context of the desolation and humanitarian tragedy left by Supertyphoon “Yolanda.”

The report highlighted the claims of successes of the Aquino administration in the past three years. It was not only irrelevant to the concerns of the Filipino people in the typhoon-devastated communities but it also made President Aquino look more remote and insensitive to the sufferings of the storm survivors.

The report was issued as propaganda to make up for the slow response of the Aquino administration to the death and destruction wrought by Yolanda.

It cited the administration’s “successes”—ranging from “spurring economic growth, expanding social services, enhancing peace and security, combating corruption, and instituting greater reform in government, as well as to ensuring that our countrymen rise from the rubble of man-made and natural calamities.”

Those were mere platitudes cited in lieu of plans to push the reconstruction of Eastern Visayas.

An administration spokesperson, who seemed to be speaking of another country, made matters worse when she said in an interview on state-run Radyo ng Bayan: “It has been a year of challenges not only for the administration but also for the Filipino people.”

The spokesperson went on to say: “It has been a year wherein the foresight and prudence of the President—holding fast to the long-term vision of a more prosperous, stable and dynamically competitive Philippines—has been upheld time and again.”

The yearend report said the economy in 2013 “continued its stellar performance, posting some of the highest growth numbers in Asia.”

It cited the old hat that the country received three major credit rating upgrades during the year, followed by approved investments totaling P126.5 billion—a case of counting the eggs before they are hatched.

The report claimed a 14.58-percent increase in infrastructure spending—an increase, all right, but not big enough to boost economic growth.

The report said the economy posted five consecutive quarters of at least 7-percent gross domestic product growth. For the first three quarters of the year, GDP grew above the government’s target of 6-7 percent.

But the report ignored the finding that the growth had taken place without creating jobs, with the implication for reducing poverty.

The National Economic and Development Authority believes GDP growth will still be within target this year and in 2014.

In a press briefing on Dec. 17, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said growth in 2013 would be near 7 percent. In 2014, growth would be within the 6.5-percent to 7.5-percent target set in the Philippine Development Plan.

Balisacan said he expected to implement rapidly the recovery and reconstruction of typhoon-devastated communities to help offset the probable slowdown of the economy in the first quarter due to Yolanda.

In the subsequent quarter, “we should be able to regain to the  momentum,” Balisacan said.

Economic growth this year could have reached 7.3 percent to 7.5 percent had not Yolanda struck central Philippines, he said.

The impact of the typhoon on agriculture would likely slow down the economy’s growth in the first quarter to around 4.1 percent to 5.9 percent, he said.

He said the main growth drivers would be the reconstruction of typhoon-ravaged communities.

The economists are quiet about the impact of presidential initiatives as a driver of economic growth. The government’s response to calamity is a forbidden topic for public discussion.

The President went up to Baguio for a brief vacation to enable him to organize his initiatives to give the economy a fresh push.

As of Sunday, as Mr. Aquino came down from his retreat, there were no signs that he would launch any plans in the new year.

Is he ready to revitalize the devastated economy with a new found burst of energy?

The problem is that he is struggling to cast off a culture of indolence.

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