Monday this week, a record 81.6% of voters trooped to polling stations to elect new national and local leaders.
With about 95.75% of votes already in as of Thursday, Duterte leads with over 6 million votes, a lead equivalent to a little over 13.5% of those who voted (about 44 million). Poe conceded victory to Duterte around midnight of Monday, and Roxas conceded Tuesday afternoon. While the victory does not become official until a declaration from Comelec, it seems clear who the next president is going to be.
The next six months are going to be critical. The new team must be formed and clear directions set.
Whose priorities?
What should the next president prioritize? There are many ways to approach this question.
We could start with the job of government. The basic job of government is to provide security, maintain order, and provide basic services. In the matter of security, most individuals would think of physical security and identify national security and citizen security. This, however, is an incomplete list. High up in this category are the matters of economic security; security in the face of disasters, and security in the case of illness or accidental injury. With respect to maintaining order, there are the matters of managing criminality, corruption and active conflict. In addition, there are the other governance matters required to maintain effectiveness and efficiency. To the question of basic services, clear priorities are transportation, education, health care, poverty alleviation, and communication.
That is how you begin the long list. The real task and challenge for the first few days, however, is to sharpen direction – to identify the short list, the priorities.
We know what business wants government to prioritize: a clear economic plan, good governance – essentially stamping out corruption and red tape, and a clear solution to nagging infrastructure concerns. This is unsurprising. And whether it is a hangover from the APEC theme for 2015 or simply an enlightened understanding of the need for a better business environment, most businessmen will point to an economic plan that effectively addresses inclusive growth.
But what do the citizens want? In a quick presidential priority survey, OLX reports managing criminality and increasing job opportunities at the top of the list – both over 60% of 1966 responses. Corruption rounds out the top three at 50%. Next on the list are poverty alleviation, transportation and infrastructure, and efficiency of government services.
What gets measured gets managed
So everyone has a list. Now, I’m not an economist but I would point very quickly to the factors underlying two indices. First, the human development index because people must be at the heart of every government’s priorities. This includes access to education, health care and such basics as clean water and power. Second, I would point to the ease of doing business index. This is because business is still the most effective engine for economic development. In this list, infrastructure and good governance will jump out as requiring attention.
To this list, I would add one very important thing: freedom of information. Aquino promised this when he was on the campaign trail but he failed to designate it as a priority.
The reason I choose to go with indices is that creating a simple list fails to provide any manager with a clear sense of goals. The reality, as all managers know, is that one of the most important levers for effective management is performance measures. The other reality is that, without transparency, we can never tell whether the metrics that we have are real.
Basics
Finally, I would ask the government to examine their development platform against what is needed in order to address inequity. We need look no farther than the nagging inability of the Philippine economy to trickle the fruits of economic growth down to the rest of the population to understand the vote against the Aquino administration.
In addressing inequity, it is important to understand basic drivers. Many are clear – infrastructure, education, jobs. One of the most important drivers of inequity is inequity in terms of opportunity – limitations on upward mobility. In order to address this, government must have a clear economic program, down to which industries will become the cornerstone of growth, and a plan for opening opportunities for both jobs, and business creation and ownership to a wider population.
However, it is not that easy. A newly published book by Branko Milanovic points to five forces driving inequity in the USA. They are worth examining. First, we remember that individuals generally earn income two ways: wages from working, or capital income from investing money. Milanovic points out that more and more of the national income is going to owners of capital. Further, that income generally belongs to only a small proportion of the population. To compound this, individuals with high-paying jobs end up with more capital and high-income individuals tend to marry each other, creating a pattern and cycle of income concentration. And, finally, the final lever – the rising political power of the rich.
This final lever is important because it explains why freedom of information is so important. There can be no good governance without true transparency.
So there’s my list. Onward.
Readers can email Maya at integrations_manila@yahoo.com. Or visit her site at http://integrations.tumblr.com.