Speech of President Aquino at the Arangkada Philippines Forum, January 26, 2012

Secretary Greg Domingo; Secretary Butch Abad; members of the Diplomatic Corps Present; Mister Rhicke Jennings; Mister John Daniel Casey; Mister Julian Payne; Mister Hubert D’Aboville; Mister Nobuya Ichiki; Mister Edward Eun-Gap Chang; PEZA Director General Lilia de Lima; honorable members of the Joint Foreign Chambers of the Philippines; friends from the business sector; fellow workers in government; honored guests; ladies and gentlemen:

Good afternoon.

First of all, a belated Happy Chinese New Year to all of you. As you know, we declared last Monday a national holiday in solidarity with the sizable Filipino-Chinese community in the country. We welcomed the year of the Water Dragon, which some believe to be a period where boldness is rewarded; a year where big, innovative projects will also meet with success. Also, they say that black and yellow are two of the lucky colors for this year. Both are staples of my wardrobe, [laughter] and while I am not a superstitious person per se, I am sure you will agree with me when I say that we all want the best luck for 2012.

The forecasts have a common message: This is going to be a challenging year for the global economy, particularly in the West. Countries such as France and Italy have experienced ratings downgrades; the fate of Greece remains uncertain; and even though the U.S. economy is beginning to show signs of recovery, optimism remains cautious and many analysts will warn that it’s too soon for anyone to cheer.

All of these have had an impact especially on Philippine exports and, of course, the remittances of our Overseas Filipino Workers. On the other hand, however, it opens doors for countries that have displayed relative stability. Capital has been looking eastward; investments have already begun to gravitate towards emerging markets, and the Philippines is among those countries who are increasingly being mentioned in this conversation. HSBC, for example, has released a study showing that, if current trends hold, our country will be the 16th largest economy in the world by mid-century. At which point, as a very senior citizen of this country, I hope to be benefitting from an expanded social safety net.

We, of course, want to realize this potential sooner rather than later, and are aware that much more needs to be done in order to achieve our goals. The Joint Foreign Chambers of the Philippines (JFCP), acting in solidarity with our agenda of national transformation, has graciously conducted a study on how to accelerate investments and economic growth, and create jobs in the country.

The Arangkada study mentioned seven promising sectors. Some in the audience may recall that these same seven sectors were part of my platform during the 2010 election campaign. They represent the global competitive advantage of the Philippines. They are primary areas of growth that can create millions of jobs for our economy and potentially change the tragic paradigm of poverty afflicting too many of our citizens.

And while some, such as the Business Process Outsourcing sector, are areas that have been showing constant progress, three of them are of particular focus to my administration this year because they tend to promote inclusive growth. These are the sectors of tourism, infrastructure, and agriculture.

I have often characterized the tourism sector as a low-lying fruit, which, with some creativity, can be promptly picked, for the benefit of my people. Filipinos have never lacked for creativity, and that is now on full display through the recently launched “It’s more fun in the Philippines” campaign spearheaded by Tourism Secretary Mon Jimenez.

But even before the campaign was launched, initial steps taken by this administration in tourism have already borne early fruit. Total visitor arrivals in the country in 2011 reached 3.917 million—11.2 percent higher than the 3.520 million posted in 2010 and, of course, almost 25 percent than the common three million that we inherited. This surpasses our target visitor arrivals for the year by 4.6 percent—it’s the first in Philippine tourism.

This initial success can in part be attributed to our decision to liberalize the aviation policies of this country. Foreign airlines such as All Nippon Airways and Air Asia are now offering flights in and out of the country. Tiger Asia, after a hiatus, has likewise resumed its operations here. Not to be outdone, local carriers are also aggressively expanding overseas. In particular, Cebu Pacific will begin offering direct flights from Manila to Hanoi in March, and pretty soon, to the Middle East. Our airport in Clark will probably see over a million passengers this year as it develops into a low-cost carrier hub for Filipino and foreign airlines, and we are exploring ways to open up other secondary gateways in other regions so that people can travel directly from abroad to these destinations. Last December, for example, the NEDA Board approved the project of DOTC Secretary Mar Roxas to upgrade the Puerto Princesa airport in Palawan—an upgrade critical to sustaining the influx of visitors to Palawan. These, along with the refurbishing of NAIA Terminal 1 and the completion and full utilization of Terminal 3, will bring us closer to our goal of tripling tourist arrivals to ten million visitors by 2016.

These airports are just a few of the infrastructure initiatives that my government is undertaking. We are, among other things, modernizing our national highway system through public sector spending. The Manila North Road is currently undergoing upgrading and widening, while the SCTEX eastern extension to Nueva Ecija will be funded through the two-step loan of DBP, financed by Japanese Official Development Assistance.

We recognize the advantages of rail and are working to extend LRT-1 south and LRT-2 east, even as the Bicol Express Train begins its revitalized commercial operations. We want to see the MRT-7 project on Commonwealth Avenue begin construction this year. With only four and a half years left in my administration—to be precise: four years and five months—I am sure Secretary Mar is as eager as I am to move these projects onward.

I am aware of concerns about infrastructure underspending at the start of my administration. I would have to say, however, that even as we spent much time and effort putting in place a system of expenditures and procurement that would curb graft, the DPWH under Secretary Babes Singson still completed a total of 10,254 road, bridge, flood control, and other infrastructure projects, and disbursed a total of 105 billion pesos for the full year of 2011. And with more prudent and transparent processes, the pesos spent for all of these projects went where they should—and not to line the pockets of the corrupt. Now that the necessary project integrity checks and systems are in place, I am happy to report that as of January 13 of this year, around two-thirds of the P205.8-billion budget for the infrastructure program has been released. This means 137.4 billion pesos that will redound to employment for those who work in construction, increased mobility for goods and services across the nation, and more livelihood opportunities for those in our respective local communities.

There were also many encouraging signs from the agriculture sector in the first year and a half of my administration, and I am confident that Secretary Alcala will give us an even better report card this year—especially as the Department of Agriculture’s budget increased by 51.3 percent, to 53.3 billion pesos. Despite setbacks due to calamities, rice self-sufficiency by 2013 remains a plausible goal—as opposed to the impossible dream it was just a couple of years ago.

The basic strategy is to sustain the increase in productivity and improve our competitiveness; to enhance economic incentives and enabling mechanisms for our farmers; and to manage the demand and diversification of our staples. Irrigation, community seed-banking, and the construction of farm-to-market roads are all part of the package. These will all allow us not only a stronger rice farming industry, but also an opportunity to tap into other growth possibilities such as coconut, poultry and livestock, fisheries, and biofuels. For example, there has been an increased global demand for coconut water. Realizing this, our Department of Agriculture has begun to provide technical assistance to farmers on ways to extract coco water to sell to the growing number of buyers. They are also conducting research and development on how to efficiently and safely extend the product’s shelf life. These efforts have contributed to the phenomenal increase in coco water production: from 484,000 liters in 2009, to 1.8 million liters in 2010, and to 7.5 million liters in just January to July of 2011. What was previously treated as waste can now become an income-generating commodity for our coconut farming sector.

The driving principle behind my government has always been equitable progress and inclusive growth, and we believe that the success of these three sectors—tourism, infrastructure, and agriculture—redound to the benefit of the common Filipino people. They offer immediate opportunities to those on the margins: those who live in poverty; who are in the rural areas; who, by a systemic neglect of their dignity, have been disallowed more active participation in the national economy. These are the same people who are being targeted by our investments in social services, such as those in education, health, and community development. Once they reap the profits of our efforts and become skilled, healthy, empowered individuals, they will be the ones to spur the entire economy forward—consumers who will allow businesses to thrive; experts who will fuel the growth of BPO companies; award winners in our creative industries; not only production-line workers, but also engineers and managers.

And therein lies the principles that inform our decisions and priorities. We speak of “arangkada,” of moving twice as fast towards the achievement of my country’s potential, and as I have reported, we are redoubling our efforts to that end. But the hallmark of a good economy is not merely accelerated growth, but also sustained growth. Growth can only be sustained through a stable environment—one where there is a just system that makes for predictable consequences and outcomes, and one where the gap between rich and poor can be easily bridged by the opportunities afforded to the citizenry.

What we now know from what is happening around the world is that inclusive growth breeds stability. It is a shield against unrest; it allows people to buy into the system, because they see that hard work pays off, and that their government is doing its very best to make sure that no one indeed gets left behind.

The race to progress is both a sprint and a marathon, in that we have to improve our economy as fast as possible, while at the same time optimizing conditions so that growth might be sustained. We cannot be left behind by competitors in the global arena, especially now that opportunities are ours for the taking, and investments are flowing towards the region. But we are also determined to not lose steam and stumble; we are keeping the long term in mind.

An equitable society is integral to a consistently progressive future, and 2012 will be a good year for the Philippines—not only because we expect the continued influx of foreign investments, or because our domestic market will become even more vibrant, or because shifting supply chains in Asia are opening new doors for our labor force. 2012 will be a good year because more of our people will be given a chance to better their lot in life. It will be a good year because we will be one step closer to the vision of a Philippines where every citizen has the capacity and the opportunity to contribute to the task of nation-building.

Thank you. Good afternoon.
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Source: www.gov.ph, Jan. 26, 2012
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