"Too much" politics due to term limits of local government officials and unreliable, expensive power supply are barriers to accelerated economic growth, presidential aspirant Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Saturday, October 9, said.
In a radio interview, Marcos said government has to fix the country’s unreliable power supply in order attract foreign investors. The Philippines is said to have the most expensive power cost in Southeast Asia, he added.
All human activity is related to power, he stressed.
Marcos, a former Ilocos Norte governor, also cited the pernicious effects of too much politics on the economy of the Philippines..
He said the three-year term of local government unit (LGU) officials lend to a disjointed economic planning.
‘’Every action of government and big business is imbued with political color. There is no grand plan,’’ he said.
Marcos said officials and bureaucrats usually ask who are the ones pushing for a business activity and not how good the business plan is. They fight over a little turf of the political spectrum, he added.
He said this comes down to the three-year term at the local level where government plans are implemented.
‘’There is too much political activity due to term limits...instability comes in,’’ the son of late strongman Ferdinand Marcos Sr. stressed.
Marcos also expressed optimism that the expected arrival of 100 million COVID-19 vaccines by end of October as stated by Vaccine Czar Carlito Galvez Jr. would lead to the opening up of economic activity in the country by the end of the year.
The 100 million doses of vaccine would be good for 50 million Filipinos to be vaccinated to cover about 40 percent of the vaccinated Filipinos.
Plus the 20 percent already vaccinated, the vaccination program would lead to a 70 to 80 percent herd community, he pointed out.
Marcos cited European countries that, having attained herd community, have already allowed their citizens freer movement and have learned to live with COVID-19, treating it like flu.
He also pressed the national government to attend to the needs of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) that were badly hit by pandemic.