Economic prosperity is our ultimate goal

It may have been a surprise to some people for The Economist to write a rather positive take about the Philippines and its economy as evidenced by a recent piece titled, “Without fanfare, the Philippines is getting richer,” but not to me.

Published last Tuesday, the article noted that “things are improving. Roads are being paved, bridges built. In February the government picked a private consortium to revamp and double the capacity of Manila’s main airport. Later this year, it is expected to award contracts to modernize several regional airports, too. Manila is scheduled to have its first underground metro line by 2029.”

The Economist also observed how growth has been brisk since 2012 (except during the pandemic) with the economy quietly booming under a variety of regimes, and growth expected at about 6 percent under the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., with the Philippines poised to become an upper middle-income country by 2026, according to the World Bank.

Some people may be skeptical, but from the way we look at it, we are in fact on the right path to economic prosperity as outlined in the Philippine Development Plan, which serves as the country’s roadmap towards genuine socioeconomic transformation to reinvigorate job creation and accelerate poverty reduction by steering the economy back on a high-growth path.

Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman accurately pointed out during the Philippine Dialogue that the Philippine embassy in Washington co-organized with the Department of Finance and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas on the sidelines of the IMF-World Bank spring meetings, that our economic managers are “going above and beyond in making the country a prime investment destination” – motivated by the President’s determination to see the Philippines become a country of “new and better opportunities.”

The President himself has been tirelessly engaging with leaders and top business executives to put the Philippines on the radar as a leading investment hub – the results of which are starting to become apparent from the latest data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas showing foreign direct investment inflows reaching $907 million in January, up 89.9 percent in the same period last year.

As the President said, economic security is national security, and we are pleased to see that our friends and allies such as Japan and the United States are very supportive of the President’s economic prosperity aspirations. During the historic tripartite summit between the Philippines, Japan and the United States, President Marcos, President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida expressed their commitment to promote enduring and inclusive economic growth and resilience.

Japan, the Philippines and the US are also looking at the possibility of a trilateral free trade agreement to further enhance economic cooperation between the three nations. In the joint statement following the trilateral summit, the three countries said they are pursuing economic projects that advance shared objectives, specifically the promotion of broad-based and sustainable economic growth, and are investing in resilient, reliable and diversified supply chains.

At the recently concluded 11th US-Philippines Bilateral Strategic Dialogue in Washington, DC between top Philippine officials and their US counterparts, one of the priorities we discussed was advancing common prosperity by exploring opportunities for further cooperation in many areas. We also exchanged views on addressing economic vulnerabilities and ways to strengthen private sector partnerships, with both countries recognizing the crucial need of mutually increasing economic growth.

During an interview with visiting Filipino reporters who are part of the Friends, Partners, Allies Program for journalists by the US embassy in Manila, we shared that the revival of the US Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) – the oldest and largest trade program of the US that provides nonreciprocal, duty-free privileges for over 3,500 products from 199 beneficiary countries that enter the US market – will most likely be approved by the US Congress before the end of this year. Aside from the Philippines, other countries are also lobbying for the revival of the trade program.

The GSP reauthorization is something that we have been working on since the expiration of the Philippines’ eligibility in December 2020, but the renewal has been delayed due to several reasons, among them the Covid-19 pandemic and the speakership issue in the US Congress last year. We have had several meetings with US legislators for the renewal of the GSP which would actually benefit some US companies that are manufacturing from the Philippines. President Marcos himself had noted that the GSP would be mutually beneficial to the US and the Philippines, which could be expanded to include other products.

It is so pathetic to see these rumor warmongers invoking the fear factor, including those who manufactured a deepfake video circulating online that was made to sound like President Marcos ordering the Armed Forces of the Philippines to take military action against China. They are totally ignorant of what deterrence is all about and how precisely working with like-minded countries can help stop a potential major conflict.

If there is any country in the world that fears a nuclear war, it is Japan. It will never forget what happened in Nagasaki and Hiroshima – wiping out those two cities in one fell swoop.

No one wants a major conflict to ever happen. No one – absolutely no one, and hopefully including China – wants war. What we as a nation only seek is economic prosperity – making us strong, secure and stable, capable of standing our ground and protecting our sovereign territory. The President has vowed to continue reaching out and working with like-minded nations in deterring any potential conflict that could essentially wipe out mankind.

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