Guingona also cautioned the Arroyo administration to go easy on global free trade, and said the Philippines must ask for special preferential treatment to enable the country to face challenges brought about by the World Trade Organization treaty lifting trade barriers.
In what appeared to be a calculated move, Guingona told reporters that he was merely offering "constructive observations" and not "destructive" criticisms after delivering his own state of the nation address on Friday night. He said he will keep his promise not to fade away and that he will remain politically relevant.
In his speech before the Rotary Club of New Manila East Friday night, Guingona outlined proproposals for self-reliant and nationalist development programs based on improving agricultural production and the integration of national and local economies that harness the vast resources of the countryside for genuine "national productivity."
"We cannot have a strong nation unless the base is strong, and the base is in the countryside where the majority of (the) people are," he said. Instead of a "strong Republic," he said Filipinos should strive to work for a "strong nation" built upon empowered local government units.
Guingona resigned from the Cabinet following public disputes with President Arroyo, especially on the return of the US troops in the country through the anti-terror joint RP-US Balikatan 02-1 military exercise which ends this month. Privately, the two had feuded on the legality of the proposed Mutual Logistics and Support Agreement (MLSA) as an executive agreement.
Guingona’s speech on Friday sounded like a dig on the policies of Mrs. Arroyo and incoming Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople.
The President and Ople had worked together in the Senate as co-sponsors of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade treaty.
Mrs. Arroyo had strongly supported Ople’s push for the passage of the Visiting Forces Agreement that was the legal basis for the return of the US troops in the country via Balikatan military exercise. The Senate ratified the VFA in May 1999.
In his speech, Guingona said that in spite of the government’s reliance on foreign investments to develop the economy, the Philippines remains poor.
He said the persistence of underdevelopment in the country is due to the exploitation of Filipino workers and resources by foreign investors without a transfer of technology and modernization.
"I am not against foreign investments. But foreign investments should not be enclaves, should not cause dislocation of people from their livelihood. Instead, we must change the patterns of foreign investments. They should stimulate local economic activity - more production, better know-how, creating more livelihood opportunities - not an elite enclave traffic or import and export for themselves," he said.
In sounding a call for the adoption of "new perspectives and policies for sustainable development," Guingona said, "We need to be self-reliant...We must build with what we have."
Among his proposals were: empowering the local government units, giving 50 percent of internal revenue taxes to the LGUs, giving 50 percent of the official development aid to LGUs, devolution of more qualified agricultural and fisheries extension workers to the LGUs and the integration of production and development.
Guingona said the LGUs through governors, mayors, municipal heads and barangay leaders understand better the conditions in their localities.
"Integration is a vital part of sustainable development," Guingona said. He cited the case of Basilan, which is distinct from northern Mindanao and the rest of the country. Basilan was a stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf group which held hostage scores of foreign nationals and Filipinos.
"For it (Basilan) to become an integral part of the global system, it must first become integrated into our national economy. For its people to participate to their advantage in the world trading systems, they must become part of a richer network of internal trade with the rest of the country," he said.