Light at the end of the tunnel?



One of the great things about having a blog is that it helps keep me abreast of the tons of information out there in cyberspace, which I normally would not catch given that my occassional trawling in the net is limited to visiting favorite sites. From Rhochie (who leaves short but insightful comments in this blog) comes this link:

Bear Stearns & Co. Inc. Retains Positive Economic Outlook on Philippines

US-BASED investment bank Bear Stearns & Co. Inc. has retained its positive outlook on the Philippines despite recent political turmoil, projecting that the economy will even grow at a faster rate of 5.8 percent this year. Last year, the economy grew 5.1 percent.

In a paper on its assessment of the country, the investment bank said the ability of the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo administration to weather political problems, including so-called coup attempts, gave the institution reason to believe that the economy was not in danger.

"One important reason (why a segment of the Philippine military) failed to gain any significant public support is that the economy is showing signs of recovery in 2006, and the Manila middle class is unwilling to jeopardize this," Bear Stearns said (Underscoring mine)

*** ***

Being in the financial services sector myself, I have grown cynical about similar predictions in the past. I have learned to take similar pronouncements with not just a grain, but tablespoons of salt. God knows how many times our country has been touted to be on the verge of an economic takeoff only to be derailed by yet another political scandal that has become as commonplace as the traffic on EDSA on any given Monday.

But hopefully, we all have learned a priceless lesson in the recent past. Now that people are speaking up and sober voices have started to be heard above the din and dynamics of the mudslinging and blamestorming, we can all get back to work on getting this country back on track towards progress.

I have said this before, and I will say this again: we should not allow our political and partisan preoccupations stand in the way of economic development. By all means, let us continue to express out disagreements and our discontent with the establishment, but let's all do these the civil, the legal, the democratic way.

Comments

Anonymous said…
The biggest problem that besiege the country is not the current crisis that hunts the government of the day, but the same one that lingers on since then. It is the Economic Inequity that exist between the Majority of the Masses and the very Few "Ruling Class" who in turn control just about every aspect of their livelihood thereby controlling the political landscape. Ever since the Country came to govern by itself, the Government keep changing hands between the limited groups of the "Ruling Class" who were the only people capable to contest the positions and thereby again maintaining the status quo. So the problem lingers on. While the population (thanks to the "church") doubled or tripled during the period the same number of "rule makers" control most of the agricultural land, the mega-businesses, and the political "party" in the Government to protect their interest forever. Tackle these "crisis" and everything will just fall into places.
I am always a great supporter of religious institution, (as it is in our constitution that all are equal under our laws), but the "church" who was brought to us by the same colonizers who had also brought us the same oligarchs and the "rulemakers" also has the same 'interest' to protect thereby, refuse to change and wants to maintain the status quo. Hence the unchecked population explosion that also contributed to the social ills. China, thanks to its Authoritarian rule, was able to tackle this part. All and most of the crisis happening now are just the "complications" of this main syptoms. And they won't go unless we deal with the main diseases. again thank you...
11:56 AM
Anonymous said…
The true measure of economic growth is how it boils down to its citizens. You may ask the question; "are you better off this year than last?" Take a good sampling and you can't go wrong. No need to be a genius.

What about this "class"? Is this classification based on income or the class of people according to their ancestries, professional degrees, the size of their residences or what? If it base on them other than bloodline then I assume it could be just temporary.
"class", we in this part of the world, a first world country, very wealthy, no journalist hurt on the job, no political crisis, no circus has long eliminated such "stereotyping". Instead for statistical purposes, we may classify our citizens by their income bracket. how you guys ever heard of the word "Equality"? no wonder.
8:01 AM
Anonymous said…
QUOTE: "we should not allow our political and partisan preoccupations stand in the way of economic development."

- But our political choices do affect our economic development and cannot be disentangled. To believe that they can be separated is dangerous.
2:49 AM
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