Scribd
Upload
63 views

ECONOMIC INEFFICIENCY: A Cycle of Incompetence

This document summarizes the economic challenges facing the Philippines, including a failure to meet GDP growth targets, high unemployment exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, and issues of corruption and incompetence among government officials. Specifically, (1) GDP growth in 2019 was 5.8%, below targets, (2) unemployment rose to 17.7% in April 2020, and (3) corruption rankings have fallen under Duterte as scandals have emerged involving cabinet members violating health protocols. To address these issues, the document calls for removing selective justice, creating new jobs, and prioritizing the national economy over preferential treatment of foreign nationals.

Uploaded by

Josiah Samuel Espana
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
63 views

ECONOMIC INEFFICIENCY: A Cycle of Incompetence

This document summarizes the economic challenges facing the Philippines, including a failure to meet GDP growth targets, high unemployment exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, and issues of corruption and incompetence among government officials. Specifically, (1) GDP growth in 2019 was 5.8%, below targets, (2) unemployment rose to 17.7% in April 2020, and (3) corruption rankings have fallen under Duterte as scandals have emerged involving cabinet members violating health protocols. To address these issues, the document calls for removing selective justice, creating new jobs, and prioritizing the national economy over preferential treatment of foreign nationals.

Uploaded by

Josiah Samuel Espana
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

ECONOMIC INEFFICIENCY: A cycle of incompetence

Josiah Samuel España | BS Accountancy II | AE 108 Economic Development

Asia’s rising eagle is losing its track to burgeoning economic boom. It can be
recalled in 2019 that the Philippines aimed to be among Asia's economic juggernauts,
that is, to hit economic growth target set by the World Bank. Given that, unfortunately,
we failed. The World Bank said that as economic growth slows, so does the rate of
poverty reduction. The gross domestic product growth of the Philippines had only likely
hit 5.8% last year which is blatantly aloof from the growth band target. This issue
engendered worse and egregious problems that directly affected our national economy
these days – (1) corruption and poor leadership, (2) incompetence of seated officials,
and (3) the lack of sufficient employment at a reasonable wage to sustain a fast growing
population – just some of the multitudinous economic challenges facing the Philippines
today. Nevertheless, persistent macroeconomic problems usually need a policy
adjustment. Inevitably, the assessment of the issues boils all the way down to an
understanding of what gets done, what gets delayed or what is unattainable to do under
the circumstances.

A well-known business magazine, Forbes, recently featured an article saying


Duterte is turning the Philippines into a more corrupt and less democratic state.
―Rising corruption means that President Duterte's anti-corruption rhetoric that helped
him grow in power was just that — rhetoric.‖ This appropriate statement by the
magazine says it all. Rankings as per international organizations slid down in the
administration. One example is last year when the Philippines became the 113 least
corrupt nation out of 180 countries, according to the 2019 Corruption Perceptions Index
reported by Transparency International. That is 14 notches below the 2018 ranking and
18 down from 2015 before Duterte becomes President. Effective law enforcement is
crucial to ensure the corrupt and abusive politicians are penalized, and to break the
cycle of impunity – the liberty from punishment or loss. To put it another way,
strengthening citizens’ demand for anti-corruption and empowering them to hold
government accountable is additionally a sustainable approach that might build mutual
trust between citizens and government.

Another key fact to remember is the incompetence of the elective and appointed
cabinet members of the present government. It’s not just the president; he has hands
over other blatant but still safe and protected violators. Gen. Debold Sinas is one
example - a PNP chief and a social gathering violator at the same time. To make it
short, he made a party in the middle of the pandemic. The worst part is in lieu of
admitting he was wrong, he did not. Another one is Health Secretary Duque who
classified mild and asymptomatic patients as recovered so as to cover these recent
burgeoning rates of COVID-19 cases. This information was misleading to the public and
resulted to complacency of many people. All things considered, this is purely
scandalous and chastely irresponsible of an official. No any other solutions for this but
to remove the ubiquitous selective justice. To elucidate, the problem with this is the
unequal and inequitable selection whether who will be safe and protected. It is a
relentless battle between the poor and the abundant, the positioned and not, and the
underserved and therefore the overrated. Violators, of any rank and standing, must
suffer the penalties they deserve. No ranking, no hierarchy, no classification – a violator
will always be a violator.

A productive and efficient economy displays a high rate of economic growth that
helps to eradicate a high level of unemployment. Withstanding these challenging times,
high level of unemployment aggravates a bounteous economy. Reflecting the dire
effects of economic shutdown due to COVID-19 pandemic, unemployment rate rose to
17.7% accounting to 7.3 million unemployed Filipinos in the labor force in April 2020.
Furthermore, a number of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) were deported from the
countries they were employed in. The foremost salient solutions for unemployment are,
of course, to create new jobs, to open new doors for opportunities among Filipino
citizens, and to get rid of that preferential rights and privileges for foreign nationals.

I would caveat my views by saying I am not an economist but more of a


concerned citizen. In fact, the Philippines is a wealthy country, both in natural resources
and human resources. But it remains an emerging country, that is, there is something
erroneous happening that needs an immediate besides efficient solution. The precious
Pearl of the Orient deserves a bit of luck and one can solely hope that past precedent
does not come to the fore and derail the gradual progress that is being made.

SUBMITTED TO:

Prof. Ma. Teresa Hidalgo

You might also like