Jejomar C. BinayFormer Vice President
For those who follow surveys, the results of the December Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showing high optimism for the new year is not surprising.
Keep in mind that the SWS survey — and a separate Pulse Asia survey measuring trust and performance — were taken in December. The mood during this month has always been upbeat owing to the Christmas season. Even in Mindanao, which was struck by an earthquake, the dip in optimism was within the margin of error.
The SWS, in fact, was keen to state that public optimism for the new year has always been high. When they began tracking public sentiment on the incoming year in 2000, the survey result was a high 87 per cent. It has ranged from the 80s to the 90s since then.
National leaders were obviously the beneficiaries of the public’s generosity which picks up during December, arresting the sense of drift and frustration over recent government failings, notably the controversy-ridden preparations for the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.
Regardless, the optimistic mood should be interpreted by our national leaders and policymakers as an opportunity to do right by the people on matters that are important, correctly identified by an economist as prices, food, and jobs.
Prices and food, in particular, are politically volatile issues. The administration’s ratings took a sharp dive when it failed to arrest the spikes in rice prices, a result of its bull-headed insistence on high tariffs and protecting the virtual monopoly of the National Food Authority (NFA).
The ratings recovered when it allowed imported rice to flood the market, but at the expense of local farmers left to fend for themselves despite the guarantee of assistance written into the law.
The culprit is inefficiency. Government agencies were slow in disbursing aid to the hapless farmers.
Unemployment in the rural areas remains high owing to the continuing neglect of the agriculture sector. This needs to change this year.
We need to improve our agriculture sector not only for our own food security but also to provide jobs and lift millions from poverty.
The country’s economic managers see the country becoming an upper-middle income economy in 2020, or two years ahead of their self-imposed target of 2022.
A change in status from a lower-income to a middle-income economy will lead to credit rating upgrades and lower commercial rates in the global financial market.
That is all good and fine. The economic team should be congratulated for setting such an audacious target. But what needs to be expounded on is whether real economic inclusivity would be achieved, and how.
On a more mundane level, I am certain many share my hope that this new year would see the untangling of Metro Manila’s traffic mess.
Traffic in the metropolis is taking its toll not only on worker’s productivity, but also on their physical and mental health. It negates any effort to increase purchasing power.
The extra peso a worker saves will just be eaten up by additional spending for vitamins, medicines, and hospitalization bills. Traffic impacts on public health.
A return to the rule of law, adherence to due process, and respect for human dignity are on my wish list as well, although many would say I am hoping against hope. Before the year closed, the acting chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP) declared that 2020 will be a bloody year in the war on drugs. He seems to have ignored reality.
Despite the high body count, illegal drugs continue to proliferate because the drug war has failed to “neutralize” the big-time drug lords.
The supply has not been disrupted. Illegal drugs enter the country through the main ports of entry as a result of the connivance or ineptitude of some bureaucrats.
Corrupt policemen, including high-ranking officers, engage in the recycling of seized drugs. A rethinking should have been the logical solution, but we are about to get more of the same.
The people, especially those who live in poverty, look to government for deliverance. Our leaders should use the people’s optimism, goodwill, and — if you believe the surveys — high support to build, and not destroy.
The public’s goodwill should not be seen as a blank check to foist policies and actions that further damage our democratic institutions and oppress the poor.
Fail the people and you risk seeing the trust and goodwill dissipate fast.