NOW is the best time to move for concerted actions among government and private stakeholders to attain inclusive growth and create enough jobs for Filipinos, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said Tuesday, November 8, in his speech during the Philippine Development Forum (PDF) 2016.
He emphasized before the 400 participants of the forum that if left unaddressed, the Philippines might miss its only opportunity to become a high-income economy in a generation.
“By 2040, our demographic sweet spot will have passed. We will become an aging population unable to maintain high inclusive growth rates. With the dramatic change in our demographics, the probability is high that the Philippines will never become a rich economy with a negligible poverty rate. This will be a calamity inflicted by failure to govern well,” he said in his PDF welcome remarks at the SMX Convention Center, Lanang Davao City.
With this, the Duterte administration staged the first of its series of “inclusive deliberations” with development stakeholders in a bid to reach consensus behind the policies and concerted actions that would translate the paramount objective of its 10-point socioeconomic agenda to concrete programs and projects geared towards seven percent economic growth, create enough jobs, and liberate some 1.5 million Filipinos from poverty annually over the next six years.
“This will be the start of a string of detailed, practicable and meaningful annual for a — and possibly even smaller, intermittent — meetings on the Duterte watch, which are all geared to find ways on how to transform high growth into a truly inclusive one for all Filipinos,” Dominguez added.
Dominguez, who also serve as the chair of the two-day forum, said the forum aims to craft with stakeholders the initiatives that will support the government’s plan to accelerate spending on infrastructure, human capital development and social protection for the poorest of the poor, as well as programs conducive to attracting fresh investments in businesses, which, in turn, will spell more jobs for Filipinos over the medium term.
Dominguez added that the collective insights drawn from the forum will be inputted into the Philippine Development Plan for 2017-2022.
“The overarching goal of this administration’s reform program is the reduction of poverty by about 8 percent over the medium term. Each year, we aspire to liberate 1.5 million Filipinos from misery. The reduction of poverty will be made possible by maintaining an annual GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth rate of at least 7 percent. The high growth rate will not be enough if it is not inclusive. We have seen in the past few years that our economy, while posting healthy growth, made the rich richer and the poor poorer,” Dominguez said.
The forum has five breakout sessions organized under the following subjects: 1) macroeconomic and fiscal policies, which include the proposed tax reform program of the Department of Finance (DOF), 2) peace and development initiatives in Mindanao, 3) infrastructure and competitiveness, which include the development of science and technology, building an efficient transport network and improving the ease of doing business, 4) rural development, which include land administration and management and food security, and the 5) development of human capital, which include social protection programs for the poorest of the poor and the implementation of the reproductive health law.
Peace and Development Presidential Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza told reporters at the sidelines of the PDF 2016 that peace will play a vital role in achieving inclusive growth and development.
“Recognizing this, we strengthen our efforts for the success of the peace process initiatives,” he said.
This is also echoed by One Network Bank President Alex Buenaventura saying peace and development has to go together.
“One cannot go without the other,” Buenaventura said.
He also lauded the staging of the forum as it acknowledges the importance of consulting the business sector and getting their suggestions on how concrete programs should be implemented in a sustainable way.
Asked on his view of the present administration’s 10-point socio-economic agenda, he said maintaining the macroeconomic policies of the previous administration would help in continuing the upbeat economic situation of the country.
He added that rural development also should be given more focus by the government.
Dominguez said the past government has managed to improve the lives of the marginal poor by way of projects like the Pantawid ng Pamilyang Pilipino Program, a conditional cash transfer initiative in which poor families are given cash in exchange for meeting certain conditions like sending their kids to school and getting medical check-ups at barangay health centers.
But the finance secretary stressed that the task of the new administration is now more challenging, albeit doable, “as it is easier to uplift the lives of those near the poverty line than those who are extremely poor, which is the goal of President Duterte.”
