Caving in
Caving in
Updated 01:23am (Mla time) Nov 26, 2004
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the November 26, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
THE DRAMATIC decline in President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's approval rating raises the alarm on the inflationary damage that continues to be inflicted on Filipinos by the seeming uncontrollable rise in world petroleum prices. While the problem may be beyond the government's control, it does not help its case for it to throw its hands up and declare its helplessness. It can do something, and that is to communicate well its message that it is doing something.
Inflation has proved to be the Waterloo of nearly all Philippine administrations since polling was begun in the early 1980s. Pulse Asia is a relative newcomer to the survey game, but in finding that Filipinos feel most strongly -- and are anxious -- about inflation, it merely reaffirmed the findings of surveys of other pollsters, notably the older Social Weather Stations, that Philippine presidents are most vulnerable when the public feels the pinch of higher prices.
Ms Arroyo cannot presume that she is impervious to the highs and lows of public approval and popularity. There are historical parallelisms in fact between her and the first woman president, Corazon Aquino, who was the first Philippine president to have been subjected to the rigors of surveys simply because her predecessor, the dictator Ferdinand Marcos, brooked no dissent, much less scientific surveys.
Like Cory Aquino riding on the crest of the euphoria of the People Power Revolution, Ms Arroyo enjoyed some amount of goodwill after winning the May 10 election. But the fact that she was somewhat a re-electionist, having served for three years after replacing Joseph Estrada abruptly in 2001, the impression that she used government resources to further her political prospects -- a wink at the wisdom of the 1987 Constitution that banned presidential reelection, and having to contend with a spoilsport opposition that has refused to concede and has even threatened to contest her victory -- should indicate that whatever honeymoon she would have with the people would be short-lived.
And much like Aquino, Ms Arroyo has had to contend with the wrenching effects of a political and economic transition in order to unmake the depredations, the corruption and the mismanagement of the past. She has to rein in the military that, like the one during Aquino's time, may have been trying to cash in on its bowing to the popular will during the EDSA People Power II revolution. She also has to make tradeoffs with politicians and sycophants.
To her misfortune, the President has had to preside over a nation reeling from severe oil price shocks and natural calamities. The confluence of oil politics and disasters has fueled inflation and deprivation, a state of untold wretchedness that was somewhat articulated, albeit in dry statistical terms, when a recent survey showed that most Filipinos can hardly afford to eat three meals a day.
What aggravates all of this is the petty tactics of petty potentates who are insensitive to the mood of the times. Amid so much poverty and suffering, top military officers have been exposed to have amassed fabulous wealth out of military funds. And the military seemed at first to be attempting to whitewash the matter, and may have only relented to civilian prosecution in order to buy time. What case of military corruption has really been effectively prosecuted? None in our time.
Meanwhile, in the House of Representatives, the lawmakers have voted to keep their pork barrel intact. And to hell with the fiscal deficit and the sputtering economy.
Alas, to the President's further political misery, the country risks a downscaling of its credit standing, competitiveness and productivity by leading analysts in the West. Overall, this means that the Philippines would become less and less an interesting place for foreign business to invest. A dangerous plunge in investments would mean less business, fewer jobs, and more poverty and misery. Funny how seemingly dry and faceless numbers, such as inflation and investment prospects, seem to be delivering untold human costs to the Philippines.
The President should gather her lieutenants now, map out a broad strategy and a whole range of practical and effective measures, deliver the goods, and communicate well the message: The government is on top of the situation, it knows the score, and it is doing something, fast.
Updated 01:23am (Mla time) Nov 26, 2004
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the November 26, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
THE DRAMATIC decline in President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's approval rating raises the alarm on the inflationary damage that continues to be inflicted on Filipinos by the seeming uncontrollable rise in world petroleum prices. While the problem may be beyond the government's control, it does not help its case for it to throw its hands up and declare its helplessness. It can do something, and that is to communicate well its message that it is doing something.
Inflation has proved to be the Waterloo of nearly all Philippine administrations since polling was begun in the early 1980s. Pulse Asia is a relative newcomer to the survey game, but in finding that Filipinos feel most strongly -- and are anxious -- about inflation, it merely reaffirmed the findings of surveys of other pollsters, notably the older Social Weather Stations, that Philippine presidents are most vulnerable when the public feels the pinch of higher prices.
Ms Arroyo cannot presume that she is impervious to the highs and lows of public approval and popularity. There are historical parallelisms in fact between her and the first woman president, Corazon Aquino, who was the first Philippine president to have been subjected to the rigors of surveys simply because her predecessor, the dictator Ferdinand Marcos, brooked no dissent, much less scientific surveys.
Like Cory Aquino riding on the crest of the euphoria of the People Power Revolution, Ms Arroyo enjoyed some amount of goodwill after winning the May 10 election. But the fact that she was somewhat a re-electionist, having served for three years after replacing Joseph Estrada abruptly in 2001, the impression that she used government resources to further her political prospects -- a wink at the wisdom of the 1987 Constitution that banned presidential reelection, and having to contend with a spoilsport opposition that has refused to concede and has even threatened to contest her victory -- should indicate that whatever honeymoon she would have with the people would be short-lived.
And much like Aquino, Ms Arroyo has had to contend with the wrenching effects of a political and economic transition in order to unmake the depredations, the corruption and the mismanagement of the past. She has to rein in the military that, like the one during Aquino's time, may have been trying to cash in on its bowing to the popular will during the EDSA People Power II revolution. She also has to make tradeoffs with politicians and sycophants.
To her misfortune, the President has had to preside over a nation reeling from severe oil price shocks and natural calamities. The confluence of oil politics and disasters has fueled inflation and deprivation, a state of untold wretchedness that was somewhat articulated, albeit in dry statistical terms, when a recent survey showed that most Filipinos can hardly afford to eat three meals a day.
What aggravates all of this is the petty tactics of petty potentates who are insensitive to the mood of the times. Amid so much poverty and suffering, top military officers have been exposed to have amassed fabulous wealth out of military funds. And the military seemed at first to be attempting to whitewash the matter, and may have only relented to civilian prosecution in order to buy time. What case of military corruption has really been effectively prosecuted? None in our time.
Meanwhile, in the House of Representatives, the lawmakers have voted to keep their pork barrel intact. And to hell with the fiscal deficit and the sputtering economy.
Alas, to the President's further political misery, the country risks a downscaling of its credit standing, competitiveness and productivity by leading analysts in the West. Overall, this means that the Philippines would become less and less an interesting place for foreign business to invest. A dangerous plunge in investments would mean less business, fewer jobs, and more poverty and misery. Funny how seemingly dry and faceless numbers, such as inflation and investment prospects, seem to be delivering untold human costs to the Philippines.
The President should gather her lieutenants now, map out a broad strategy and a whole range of practical and effective measures, deliver the goods, and communicate well the message: The government is on top of the situation, it knows the score, and it is doing something, fast.
posted by Dante at 1:40 PM
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