President Marcos’ decisive initiatives on easing Covid-19 protocols and reopening the country to tourists and investors in the first semester of his presidency has begun generating more foreign direct investments (FDIs) and putting our economy on the mend, hence keeping it on its upward trajectory this 2023 despite an impending global recession.
Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte, president of National Unity Party (NUP), offered this assessment Friday, stressing that “the most remarkable feat of President Marcos thus far comprise his decisive moves on the public health and economic fronts that sent a loud and clear message to the world that the Philippines has reopened fully for business on his watch despite the lingering Covid-19 pandemic.”
“Complementing such initiatives,” added Villafuerte, “were the President’s aggressive pitch in his overseas trips for the Philippines as an Asian business hub with investor-friendly policies plus a young and dynamic labor force, leading to a whopping over $23.6
billion-worth of investment pledges that will for sure energize domestic economic activity in 2023, create a lot of jobs and improve the living standards of many of our people.”
Villafuerte said he is confident that the Marcos administration can keep the Philippines on high-growth mode in 2023 and onwards partly because of the President’s apt decision to sustain the unprecedented level of mega investments of the past administration in public infrastructure, “considering that infra spending has the highest multiplier effect on the economy.”
Citing a Department of Budget and Management (DBM) report, Villafuerte said the Marcos government has allocated an amount equivalent to five percent to six percent of GDP to spending on infrastructure and other capital outlay projects.
Proof of the continued high infra spending under the Marcos administration was that completed infrastructure projects went up by 39.3 percent in September alone as National Government (NG) expenditures for this sector plus other capital outlay projects rose to P99.1 billion in September from the year-ago’s P71.2-billion disbursements.
For Villafuerte, “Most of our people are apparently aware of, and appreciate, Mr. Marcos’ achievements in his first half-year in office on improving their lot—in keeping with his 2022 presidential campaign promise—as borne out by the results of separate public opinion polls pointing to his high approval and trust ratings, with two out of three Filipinos believing his Administration has been moving in the right direction and as many as nine out of 10 of them saying they are welcoming 2023 with hope.”
