“Our internal economic problems are also a result of years and years of neglect, of putting premium on politics over sound economics”
This article is being written a day before the 17th President delivers his much-awaited State of the Nation Address before the joint session of the houses of Congress.
The business community is asking for details of his economic plan, at a time when the country and its people are beset by times no less difficult as when the Pacific War ended.
They admired the eloquence by which he wove the words of his clarion call for unity in his inaugural address last June 30. But eloquence is not enough; details are asked.
Since then, external developments have made us all the more anxious about what’s in store for us.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict has deepened, and there seems to be no end in sight.
The stand-off between the NATO allies and the intransigent Vladimir Putin has merely stretched the time for all of the world to suffer alongside the people of Ukraine. Economic sanctions are not working as well as the West hoped.
Variations of the coronavirus has meanwhile mutated into God knows how many and under whatever specie, more so in a country whose youth are about to resume normal face-to-face classes in a month’s time after almost three years of abnormality.
We sigh with relief each time petrol prices at the pump go down a bit, and hope for more, yet deep in our hearts we know that this trend could be discombobulated anytime by the oil cartel or the shooting war thousands of miles away from our shores.
In short, we are all driving across an unfamiliar and precarious zigzag road. And we look towards our newly elected leader to provide us with answers today.
Can we have our cake and eat it too? Evince growth amid scarcities and fighting the scourge of inflation which is our greatest public enemy this time?
Everyone and his mother has put in his fair share of prognostications about our dire situation. Nobody is saying that things are looking up.
This writer has time and again written about our critical food supply situation. And, yet, worse is likely to come.
Amid all these, let us tame our expectations for today’s SONA.
Let us not expect Pres. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to have all the answers, nor to come up with the “perfect” solutions to the ills that beset the country.
Apart from the external developments, whether in public health due to the pandemic and its mutations, or the geo-political situation which impacts on almost everything from food to supply chains to transport, our internal economic problems are also a result of years and years of neglect, of putting premium on politics over sound economics.
Sure, Pres. Marcos Jr. is armed with tremendous political capital, having garnered an unprecedented number of votes in the last elections.
That political capital equates with power, and, as in Spiderman, “with great power comes great responsibilities.”
Surely he is aware of that.
But he has to tread with care in the exercise of such power, because people’s lives and the nation’s future are on the line.
He cannot swing to the left or zig to the right as easily as his predecessors who inherited less problems can.
Pandering to populist demands should be his least concern. Navigating the ship of state through treacherous eddies and high waves is a most difficult responsibility.
Thus far, he has chosen a good crew, disdained the pure blandishments of political pay-back, and insisted on a careful selection process.
Still, one has to acknowledge the enormous burden of “great expectations.”
And one cannot blame the public, especially the poor and marginalized, for having such high hopes. They have seen presidents come and go. They have seen promises made and promises left forgotten.
They were quite understanding of Marcos’ predecessor, who has left the presidency with the highest approval ratings of any in recent history, and whose growth record was blemished because of the pandemic.
Now Marcos Jr., like it or not, inherits the tailspin.
Pres. Duterte inherited a better economy and half of the current indebtedness from his predecessor Benigno Simeon Aquino III, and thus had the wherewithal to jumpstart his Build, Build, Build and many popular initiatives. Marcos Jr. does not have the same economic capital.
So let us give him space.
To those who did not vote for him, and who probably “hate” him for his “ancestors,” it is time to take pause. We are all in this together.
Up to the present, we see many in media, both traditional and social, unable to rise above their pre-election biases.
Typical is one who interviews new appointees and keeps twitting the president for his “4.4 versus 6.1 percent” statement on the current inflation rate, even if his secretary of finance has since clarified what the president meant.
I did not vote for Marcos Jr. I campaigned for another candidate, and in several interviews, gave my own share of criticisms against the man who would be president.
But the problems we face today are almost insurmountable. There are no quick fixes.
The president will have to summon every ounce of cooperation and sacrifice from an already suffering public.
Let us listen to today’s SONA with that openness to sacrifice, that willingness to wait patiently for change, and pray that indeed, the leader the majority of us chose will succeed in the end.