ALMOST, always I never pass up any Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) invites, cocktails or otherwise and much more to attend the Philippine Economic Briefing (PEB) at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC).
Right, Abigail Ho-Torres, I still go to these events, which is my window to reconnect with officials, sources and friends like the long time close in of BSP Governor Amado M. Tetangco, Jr., Moi MaIenab, whom I have not seen and talked to in the past, and meet new acquaintances. The occasion is my observatory tower, but in this case up close and personal.
And from my observation deck, I can definitely say that we have improved in terms of complying to call time. Salute to the participants and the attendees, including the ambassadors, department undersecretaries, representatives of banks and financial institutions, for trickling in early as well as the economic managers, who were quarantined at the second floor of the Reception Hall of the PICC where they have the vantage view of the events down at the Hall.
The Monday event started a little past the 1:00 p.m. call time but definitely way, way earlier in contrast to the April 4, 2022, the first economic briefing held shortly after the government declared a relative easing in public gathering. Comparatively, we waited more than an hour for the PEB to start in 2022.
It would have started right but a blunder kept the audience wondering what timezone was the host on, greeting the attendees "good morning" when it was way beyond noon already. BSP Governor Eli Remolona, despite his absence, was correct in his timezone, opening his message with "good afternoon."
Yes, of course, the stellar performance of the Philippine economy is a good story to tell amidst the headwinds coming from both onshore and offshore. Despite some rhetoric and palliatives, the economic managers, on the average, were excellent in showing the growth performance.
The economic messengers – Secretaries Ralph Recto, Arsenio Balisacan, Alfredo Pascual, Frederick Go, Jaime J. Bautista, Manuel Bonoan, Amenah Pangandaman, were very clear: the country is on its way to economic progress but there's plenty, and there's still a lot to do to maximize the growth potential.
However, inflation remains sticky, which impacts the value of the peso against the mighty US dollar.
Euben Paracuelles, chief ASEAN economist of Nomura Securities, was very in the first session. When it was about to end, the audience was in awe, tongue-tied even with no less the one of the stalwarts of the business industry, Ramon S. Ang (RSA), president and chief executive officer of diversified conglomerate, San Miguel Corporation, stood up to speak on the huge disparity between local pump prices of petroleum products-power cost and that with our regional peers.
I will not bore you with RSA's explanation. What really surprised the audience was his demeanor in delivering his point – very emphatic and most importantly patriotic in invoking our ownership of the disputed territory.
"I'd like to share with our audience today why is it that the fuel prices and power prices are higher than our neighboring countries. San Miguel and Petron are in Malaysia.... ours without the subsidy. We can't put in subsidies. In the Philippines, we don't have oil but we have very big reserves in the West Philippine Sea. That is why they are very interested in the Philippines."
RSA ended his statement with a bang! "So let us not let go of it. Let us protect our territory." And RSA was not alone on this very sensitive topic. Former National Security Adviser and Philtrust Chairman Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. supported him, saying that the current issue on the West Philippine Sea should be considered as the third element that comprises the geo-political tension. He posed a question to the economic managers: "Do you want to de-escalate or escalate?" while stressing that "if energy is a problem, we have so much in the West Philippine Sea."
From my observation deck, the audience was very pleased with these two gentlemen, stalwarts in their respective fields. They are a whiff of fresh air, a sight to behold and music to the ears with their nationalistic stance. Salute!
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