President Rodrigo Roa Duterte vowed to change and improve the quality of life for many Filipinos since the start of his term as the leader of the country. With less than a year left in his term, what promises have been achieved?
Through the continuous development of the Philippine economy under his administration, the country was included in the list of “10 Asia’s Fastest Growing Economies” in 2017 while in 2018, the Philippines was reported as the 5th “Most Competitive Economies” according to the World Economic Forum.
According to National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Chief Karl Chua, before the pandemic, the Philippine economy was recorded to be strong. He said that the Philippines is close to being an upper middle-income country such as China, Malaysia, and Thailand.
In 2019, the share investments of the economy increased from 21.3% in 2015 to 26.2%. One of the reasons for this is the credit rating of the country from BBB/Stable to BBB + stable.
The said credit rating was the highest rating the Philippines have recorded in history.
In relation to this, the Duterte administration also wished for a progressive and equal tax system. With this, the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program was created. The President initially implemented the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Law in 2018.
During the second year TRAIN Law implementation, tax revenues went up to P130.7 billion in 2019 from P68.4 billion in 2018. The Department of Finance (DOF) report showed that tax revenues in 2019 reached 16.1% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), the highest recorded in over 20 years.
In 2016, Duterte signed Executive Order No. 5 adopting the 25-year “Ambisyon Natin 2040” guide for development planning that will further address poverty and hunger, and elevate the social status of citizens. Among the bases for the guidelines is the 10-point socioeconomic agenda of the Duterte administration.
However, the world faced an unprecedented health crisis in 2020 due to COVID-19, which brought the country’s GDP to a low of 9.5%. Despite this, seven of the 10-point economic agenda were achieved.
The NEDA said the country had a strong economy before COVID-19 hit the Philippines also due to tax reforms and strong credit rating, which helped the country manage some of the impact of the pandemic.
Through this, the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act and Bayanihan to Recover as One Act were immediately created and were quickly funded due to the high revenues in the past years. The said laws served as the way to create effective programs and policies that aided the Filipinos amid the COVID-19 crisis.
Agriculture
Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary William Dar said the gross domestic product contribution of the agricultural sector significantly increased since Duterte assumed presidency.
“Noong 2019 ay 9.8% ang contribution, last year is up to 10.4%. Kung idadagdag mo pa yung galing sa agri-business, ‘yung related sectors sa agri-business ay 20%. Agri and food will really continue to be major pillars of the economy,” Dar said.
Among the economic agenda priorities for agriculture is the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL) to respond to low rice production in the country. This includes the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) program to aid farmers meet the developments brought about by RTL, such as mechanization.
Following the RTL signing, Dar said rice production reached 19.4 million metric tons, an equivalent of 90% of the country’s rice sufficiency requirement. Duterte also approved Republic Act No. 10969 in 2018 which provides free irrigation service to farmers with eight hectares of land and below.
“At this year, with RCEF also, it will again contribute to a bigger rice production target of 20.4 million metric tons, at mayroon nang indikasyon na ‘yung palay production last quarter now increased by 7%,” Dar said.
Business
The current administration also pushed in 2018 for inclusive globalization in line with the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) Development Plan 2017-2022.
Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Ramon Lopez said MSMEs account for 65% to 75% of jobs.
“Pagdating naman sa contribution to the economy, they contribute close to 40%. Dati ‘yan mga 30%. Kaya ang objective talaga natin lumaki ang mga contribution galing sa MSMEs,” Lopez said.
The Ease of Doing Business Act was also passed into law in 2018, which Lopez said will encourage more business activities, more investments, and more job opportunities. A World Bank (WB) report showed that the country ranked 95th in 2020 from 124th in 2019 in terms of doing business.
Tourism
The government allocated $23 billion investment for the tourism infrastructures under the National Tourism Development Plan to spur growth and support the livelihood of Filipinos.
Data in 2019 showed that there are 5.7 million tourism workers in the country who account for 13.5% of the total workforce. During the same year, the country had 8.26 million foreign investors and earned $9.5 billion tourism revenues.
However, the pandemic cut tourist arrivals to 1.48 million in 2020 and reduced tourism revenues by 83%.
“Tourism carries a large burden especially because it cuts across all sectors of society, covering industry. Hindi lang accommodation, hindi lang hotels, resorts, kasama rito ‘yung food and beverage, transportation,” Tourism Secretary Bernadette Puyat said.
The Bayanihan 2 Law provided P10.1 billion to the tourism industry to support recovery through working capital loans and other forms of financial assistance.
There are also existing policies that can aid a new normal tourism setup, such as the $300-million Transforming Communities towards Resilient, Inclusive and Sustainable Tourism (TouRIST) project funded by the World Bank.
The NEDA eyes economic recovery from the pandemic in 2022 through safe opening of more industries, and strengthened national vaccination program. At least P2-trillion worth of support was also allocated to support the economy. (PTV)/ NGS, AG-rir
