#MINDANAO
John Tria
We should remember a president’s legacy not only in the way he or she executed the duties of the presidency, but more importantly, in the way policies promulgated then have positively affected the lives of the people over time.
Many Mindanaoans will remember the President Fidel V. Ramos legacy in terms of the ease of travel and communication. Those years saw tough reforms such as liberalized telecommunications and transport.
Why is this significant? During that time, communications was tedious. OFWs had to mail taped messages to their loved ones, or call them through a public pay phone. In 1987, I remember my late father informing his relatives of my mother’s passing in Cagayan de Oro through a phone call made at a public phone office near the Northern Mindanao Medical Center where he had to wait in a booth for the operator to connect him to a relative.
This changed by the mid 90s when new policies opened the door for various telcos to establish networks to bring operator-free direct dial cellular phone networks which expanded direct voice communication to millions.
These were also the years when new airlines took to the skies, such as Grand air, Air Philippines, Cebu Pacific, and a small airline called Mindanao Express which operated within Mindanao. This created competition and more flights that enabled many Mindanaoans to fly more frequently, even introducing the flying experience to many. I remember an officemate who relished his first flight experience since he lived in a province near Metro Manila and did not have reason to fly to other destinations as work and school were bus rides away.
The Mindanao Business sector will recall the time when the idea of a growth area called the Brunei Indonesia Malaysia Philippines (BIMP-EAGA) formed, which aimed to boost trade between Mindanao and neighboring ASEAN countries.
That was also the time of growth inducing projects in various Mindanao regions through the Office of the Presidential Assistant for Mindanao headed by Sec. Paul Dominguez.
Mindanaoans will also recall this period for the establishment of the University of the Philippines – Mindanao in Davao City.
In sum, those reforms which liberalized sectors and boosted the economy brought the country closer together, and included a social reform agenda that allowed many sectors to engage with government, raised our GDP levels and made many upbeat about the economy. (This MB article tells us more: https://mb.com.ph/2022/07/31/fvr-dies-at-94/.)
Of course, the late 90’s Asian financial crisis lowered our GDP levels forcing many of these airline and telecom companies to consolidate, yet in my view the FVR years gave us a taste of how empowering Filipino consumers with more choices enabled consumption and fueled growth.
We in Mindanao had the chance to imagine the island as a vibrant growth engine. These and other lessons in our socioeconomic history, enable us to see what policy mix works and does not work to boost sustainable and equitable economic growth in this country.
This is why I am pushing the institutionalization of presidential libraries. This will allow future scholars and the public to focus on the vital legacies: the policies promulgated at the time to appreciate them in the context within which they were enacted, and to track how they were implemented. We must learn these lessons well if we are to face the future with hope.