Was HSBC Global Research ASEAN economist Aris Dacanay among the bright boys the Pres. Bongbong Marcos consulted on how to arrest inflation upticks in the country under his administration? Former Agriculture Secretary Many Pinol had earlier issued a challenge to a public debate to this character after he proudly coming out with his grand assumption that reducing the 35% tariff on rice importations will address Marcos dual problems: the rising inflation and looming shortage of rice supply.
Dacanay never responded to the challenge of Pinol. Obviously this Dacanay has never stepped out from his airconditioned office, has not dropped by a rice stall in public markets and worse, has not gone out to the countryside as it would have soiled his shoes. He has neither seen the expanse of arable lands and nor saw the capability of our farmers to increase farm productivity if only they were or are given adequate support by the government.
It is a sad commentary. We are not short of scholars like Dacanay who could have given our leaders and decision makers if he knew the potentials and, as Pinol enunciated, the realities on the ground.
The HSBC economic expert and our own National Economic Development Authority gurus and the Department of Agriculture officials need not go into the arduous tasks of drawing out plans and strategies on how to improve and increase rice productivity. The late Pres. Ferdinand Edralin Marcos Sr. has left an invaluable legacy – a template of how to unleash the capacity of our farmers to improve and increase rice productivity and for the country to even export rice.
Sadly no one seemed to bother. Our political leaders and government planners over-indulge in politicking, shameless and demonic machinations to stay in power; splurging our meager financial resources for “ayudas” and enriching themselves at the people’s expense. We have become a nation of beggars and filthy-rich politicians.
The Bicameral Committee restored funding for Romualdez’s pet cash aid project AKAP and they celebrated wildly because then again they will have money to woo electorates of their votes. In the meanwhile our farmers are starving. If there is anything Speaker Martin Romualdez will be well-remembered and credited is his success of creating the Philippines into a nation of mendicants.
But wait. Since we have this economic expert at HSBC, maybe he should tell us how far can our nation go with the complex symptoms of bankruptcy. While Congress has approved a gargantuan national budget for 2025 amounting to ₱6.3-trillion, the government surreptitiously unloaded several tons of gold from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, transferred to the national treasury billions of pesos from the funds of the members of GSIS, SSS, PhilHealth and from the Development Bank of the Philippines, Land Bank of the Philippines and Maharlika Funds. Tell us Mr. Dacanay, is the Philippine economy healthy? How far are we from the edge…
