Economy deserves more attention in second year

A COUPLE of weeks from now, President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino 3rd will deliver his second State of the Nation Address. He gave a preview of it when he commemorated his first year in office, and expectedly he touted his effort to fight graft and corruption. There would be no poverty if there was no corruption, President Aquino said again, a repeat of his campaign slogan. The time has come to fight corruption on another front.

Looking ahead, we hope to see President Aquino and his team give more attention to the economy even as he continues his push for good governance. The government has a one-year head start on fighting graft, and we expect to hear what the President has been doing about that during his upcoming state address. But fighting graft and corruption is a never-ending process, and the needs of the country require him to do other things.

As he works on good governance, we hope that President Aquino simultaneously confronts challenges on the economic front. For instance, what government policies and strategies will generate the most number of jobs?

The agricultural sector

If the government is looking to have policies with the greatest impact, it should consider developing the agriculture sector. It accounts for about 60 percent of the labor force.

Given its large significance, it seems obvious that helping the most number of Filipinos requires more attention on modernizing the country’s agriculture. This is not a new idea, but it has been largely ignored. Many others, like Sen. Edgardo Angara, have been pushing for developing the agriculture sector, but few seem to be listening. Like the proponents of agriculture development, we are hoping to hear about new policies and programs to develop this sector. If farmers could only be elevated to the middleclass, we believe that the Philippines will become a strong country.

Of course, the problem is how to do it. To be sure, there are no easy answers, nor are there any cheap ones. Because the challenge is great, President Aquino should tap the best and brightest in his government to suggest policy prescriptions and work on this task.

Talk is cheap

Beyond pointing out the deficiencies in farm-to-market roads, however, we would like to hear how more of those can be built and where should the government start. Besides lamenting the weak bargaining power of farmers relative to traders and middlemen, we should come up with policies that empower the rural folk. And more than building other infrastructure, it would be reassuring to hear about a comprehensive design to improve this vital sector of the economy. In other words, we hope to see more resources devoted to develop the agriculture sector. Unless that is done, the government would be only paying lip service to this issue.

We submit that the need to develop the agriculture sector deserves higher priority, even though the country faces a myriad of domestic and international problems. Other aims, such as improving education and rebuilding the military, are also important. But so is feeding the country, and looking after the Filipinos who do just that.

Not a few have argued that feeding empty stomachs and keeping them reasonably full may be an effective way to fight graft and corruption. In short, good governance initiatives aimed to alleviate poverty can be—and should be—done in concert with efforts to improve the economy.

In fact, graft and corruption should be attacked on several fronts. President Aquino devoted much of his first year to prosecution. That is important. In his second year, though, we hope that he and his team devote as much time and effort to the economy, specially the agriculture sector.