It all boils down to the president
The article by April Lee-Tan (“Marcos administration: So far, so good,” Intelligent Investing, Business, 5/30/22) holds high hopes about President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s choices of men to help him run the government, exuding so much confidence that “the Marcos administration is taking the right steps so far to help the Philippine economy recover sustainably from the pandemic and to face the ongoing challenges. This should allow financial markets to perform better over the longer term, especially once economic data start showing a favorable trend.”
If the ethos and soul of the president (at whose sole “pleasure” — or someone else’s in the Palace — they are said to serve) is rotten to the core, it doesn’t matter how brilliant his economic advisers might be. Smart technocrats also surrounded President Duterte who most of the time just ignored them. For instance, amidst Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr.’s show of patriotism and vehement protestations against China’s unlawful militarization of vital parts of the West Philippine Sea, Mr. Duterte continued to confess his “love” for Chinese President Xi Jinping.
There can be no progress as long as this country is run by crooks or kakistocratic misfits. And where its own leader is the one pushing the agenda of condoning the corruption of the many to cover up his own family’s part of the corruption, heaven help us! The immortal words of George Santayana remain apposite: “Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it.”
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ricafortnimfarina@gmail.com
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