‘PH no longer sick man of Asia’

BRAGGING that his administration has made headway against corruption and that the Philippines is no longer the “sick man of Asia,” President Benigno Aquino 3rd on Tuesday urged businessmen to put their money in three sectors—infrastructure, agriculture and tourism.

“Once upon a time, the consensus among you was that we were the sick man of Asia. The diagnosis for this illness was as simple as it seemed insurmountable: lack of political will; an entrenched system of corruption that could not be weeded out; and a feeling of utter impossibility among Filipinos and their leaders alike,” President Aquino said.

But the President added that everything has changed.

“Let no one doubt that we are doing the three things [that] were previously thought of as impossible: we are calling people to account, we are putting closure to the controversies that had sapped our institutions of their vigor and had diminished their legitimacy in the eyes of our countrymen. In other words, we are exercising political will,” Mr. Aquino said during the Philippines Investment Forum organized by Euromoney and held at The Peninsula Manila hotel in Makati City.

According to him, his government reformed the manner in which it allocates and dispenses public funds, in going after the thieves and in collecting what the government is due.

“That is how we are fighting corruption and making a mark. We have fought the culture of naysaying and negativity and have given a sense of empowerment to our people, replacing the hopelessness of the past with a steadfast commitment to building a society that indeed works. We have put an end to business as usual and proclaimed a country open for real business,” President Aquino said.

The President reiterated some major accomplishments of his administration like the record-high performance of the stock market, increased investments in the Philippine Economic Zone Authority and increased visitor arrivals, saying that these facts are the indicators of good business in the country.

“All this is happening amidst global economic uncertainty. If these facts and figures tell us anything, it is that the Philippines’ success has been nothing less than heroic—that we have experienced high after high in our investment story,” Mr. Aquino said.

But he added that much has to be done to generate millions of jobs.

“The plan for this year involves focusing on three specific sectors—sectors that will have the largest impact on our economy and in the lives of our people—that will create much-needed jobs in the timeliest manner, namely: agriculture, infrastructure, and tourism,” President Aquino said.

The President added that his administration is doing something to solve power crisis in Mindanao, but he did not elaborate.

Mr. Aquino noted that farmers should be given enough incentive to do their jobs well.

“Right now, while our farmers account for 33 percent of total employment, they only account for 13 percent of gross domestic product. This isn’t right, and our administration fully intends to increase farmer productivity and help facilitate the trade of their produce,” he said.

According to President Aquino, the budget of the Department of Agriculture was increased by more than fifty percent to P53.3 billion.

“The bulk of this money will go to more irrigation projects, more farm-to-market roads and more buying posts—projects that will directly impact the lives of those who find their livelihoods in agriculture and will move us closer to our goal of reaching rice self-sufficiency in 2013, which we believe to be extremely doable,” the President said.

Mr. Aquino added that the implementation of thousands of infrastructure projects is in full swing.

He said that as of last week, the government has approved P133 billion worth of projects for different sectors.

“Most prominent among them is the LRT Line 1 South Extension Project, worth P61.53

billion. The plan is to extend LRT Line 1 by almost 12 kilometers, from Baclaran, through [the cities of] Parañaque and Las Piñas, to Bacoor, Cavite [province],” Mr. Aquino added.

President Aquino said that he would be severely disappointed if the trains would not run by 2015.

Tourism is another industry that has made leaps and bounds, the President added.

“I’ve always said that tourism is a low-lying fruit for the Philippine economy that has long gone unpicked. But thanks to a re-energized Department of Tourism, care of Secretary Mon Jimenez—and thanks to an excellent marketing campaign, coupled with a liberalized aviation industry—in January alone, the Philippines welcomed more than 400,000 visitors. This is the highest monthly visitor count in our history,” Mr. Aquino said.

He added that he has four years and three months left ‘to reach our target and we know that, each year, we can grow our number of visitors closer and closer to our goal.”

President Aquino said that his formula in attracting business is very simple.

“We want to make it easier for people to do business here, and that means creating a level playing field, curbing corruption and eliminating inefficiencies. This explains many of our initiatives, particularly the Philippine Business Registry. Instead of our entrepreneurs running around from agency to agency just so that they can set up shop here, we have given them a one-stop-shop, where they can transact with multiple government agencies all at once. This reduces the time it takes to register a business from several days to just twenty to thirty minutes. More than that, it vastly reduces opportunities for corruption,” the President added.

“The bottom line here is: if we want businesses to set up shop here and create jobs for our people, we have to be competitive. We have to focus on industries where there are actual opportunities for mutual benefit. The world is getting increasingly smaller, and we find ourselves pitted against countries [that] have very competitive business propositions. We cannot compromise our position by making life more difficult for companies because of corruption or red tape. We cannot sacrifice the jobs created by these businesses, because it is our people who will take the brunt of the hit if these businesses choose to operate elsewhere. We need to continue fostering a good environment for business—one that is both stable and predictable,” Mr. Aquino said.

He also announced that two “major” shipbuilding companies are setting up shop in the country but declined to name them for now. –JAIME R. PILAPIL REPORTER  wITH REPORT FROM XINHUA, Manila Times