THE EnTrEprEnEur

IT was a comprehensive accounting of the state of the nation, delivered in exactly 120 minutes and full of optimism for the future.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s State of the Nation Address on July 24, 2023 accurately summed up the current situation of the Philippines and its people, and relayed our aspirations and dreams to have a better quality of life by sustaining our economic momentum, building infrastructures and protecting our environment.

“Sound and improving” is how the President described the Philippine economic condition. This means we have a stable government and economy, yet we are looking forward to an even brighter future.

The numbers the President cited are solid—our gross domestic product expanded 7.6 percent in 2022, the highest growth rate in 46 years. This was followed by a 6.4-percent growth in the first quarter of 2023, one of the fastest in the region.

The Philippines, he said, is considered to be among the fastest-growing economies in the Asian region and in the world—a testament to our strong macroeconomic fundamentals.

Banks are strong and stable, while brick-and-mortar retail and e-commerce businesses are flourishing, with the digital economy contributing P2 trillion.

While consumer prices remain a challenge, the inflation rate has been on a downtrend from 8.7 percent in January 2023 to 5.4 percent in June, and is on track to ease further by the fourth quarter.

The President said the government is focusing on investing in infrastructure and in the Filipino people. About 70 percent of the 2023 government budget goes to economic and social services. This is why it is crucial to improve revenue and tax collection, and the President wants Congress to enact more fiscal reforms.

To make economic growth more inclusive and lift the income of the rural population, President Marcos underscored the need to boost local farm production through consolidation, modernization, mechanization and improvement of value chains. He also proposed revisions in the Fisheries Code to incorporate and strengthen science-based analysis and determination of fishing areas.

The President vowed to keep infrastructure spending at 5 percent to 6 percent of our GDP, which means it will remain a priority until 2028. Ma- jor infrastructure projects are ongoing—and many are expected to be completed under his term.

Along with transport infrastructure development, the President aims to ensure we have enough power to meet future demand. He noted the addition of 17 power plants in 2022 and 2023, increasing our energy production by 1,174 megawatts.

He promotes renewable energy in line with the goal to have a 35-percent share in the power mix by 2030 and 50 percent by 2040. Per the Department of Energy, the government awarded 126 renewable energy contracts with a potential capacity of 31,000 megawatts.

The President is committed to “decarbonization” and addressing the impact of climate change—a recognition that despite our little contribution to global warming, we are doing our part to mitigate its impact.

More importantly, the President stressed the improvement in employment rate to 95.7 percent in May 2023 from just 82.4 percent at the height of the pandemic. He said we should do more, so that the remaining 4.3 percent of our workforce and the 11.7 percent underemployed Filipinos could contribute to the economy.

The government is adopting an investment-friendly approach, evident in the several economic briefings and business missions held by the President and his Cabinet overseas. “Our independent foreign policy—a friend to all and enemy of none—has proven effective. We have formed strategic alliances with our traditional and newfound partners in the international community,” the President said.

The US: Neither loved nor feared?

John Mangun

OuTSIDE THE BOX

THE opposite side of “love” is not “hate.” Niccolò Machiavelli in his treatise, The Prince, clearly describes it this way: “It is better to be feared than to be loved, if one cannot be both.”

The Sahel extends over 5,900 kilometers from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the east; in a belt between the Sahara Desert to the north and the savannas and forests to the south.

A dozen countries find at least some of their territory in the Sahel, boundaries drawn by the 18th century European colonial masters.

Parts of Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Sudan, and the northern areas of South Sudan, Eritrea, and Ethiopia lie within the Sahel.

More interestingly, since 2008 US-trained officers have attempted at least nine coups and succeeded in at least eight in five West African countries alone: Three times in Burkina Faso; three times in Mali; and once each in Guinea, Mauritania, and the Gambia.

While it is still a developing story, last Wednesday, Niger’s presidential guard detained President Mohamed Bazoum and presidential guard commander General Abdourahamane Tchiani proclaimed himself leader of the military junta. As of now, Bazoum has refused to resign and as the US Department of State puts it, “The attempted military coup in Niger has been marked by ‘confusion, shifting alliances and fluidity,’ and that uncertainty is one reason the US government has not declared it a coup.”

I seem to be using the phrase “running around like a headless chicken” often recently.

Here’s the point. When he visited Niger in March—the first US secretary of state to do so—Antony Blinken hailed the West African country as “a model of resilience, a model of democracy, a model of cooperation.”

So much for that analysis. Further, Niger was one of the last viable US allies in the Sahel.

From the Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies: “The US was heaping money and attention and praise and encouragement and investment and assistance on Niger, more so than any other country in the region. This is a major setback for Washington.”

US foreign and military policy

The President looks at nurturing the growth of the services sector, particularly the information technology-business process management sector and the tourism industry. He said the Philippines welcomed nearly 3 million foreign visitors in the first half of 2023, representing 62 percent of the 4.8-million target for the whole year.

The President’s second SONA mostly focused on the economy— which is what a State of the Nation Address is all about. The end goal is to have a more prosperous nation where everyone has enough food on the table.

The Philippines continues to grow at a rapid pace, and more Filipinos will benefit if the growth becomes more inclusive. No less than the International Monetary Fund upgraded its 2023 growth forecast for the Philippines to 6.2 percent from 6 percent despite several global challenges.

President Marcos acknowledged that inflation remains a major challenge, along with the need to build more water infrastructures and power projects, making our agriculture sector more competitive to attain food security, boosting our exports and narrowing the trade deficit, preparing for the El Niño dry spell and handling the security issues in the West Philippine Sea.

Overall, I find the President’s SONA reassuring and inspiring at the same time. I do share his candid assessment that “the state of the nation is sound and improving.”

For comments, send e-mail to mbv_secretariat@vistaland.com.ph or visit www.mannyvillar.com.ph has been illustrated in the words of President Lyndon Johnson who “lost” the Vietnam War, May 1965: “The ultimate victory will depend upon the hearts and the minds of the people who actually live out there. By helping to bring them hope and electricity, you are also striking a very important blow for the cause of freedom throughout the world.”

Unfortunately, “hope and electricity” do not win wars, and as Machiavelli argued, fear is a better motivator than love. If the coup in Niger carries on and the US (plus France and EU) stops financial aid to Niger, the “hearts and minds” could become exceedingly hungry.

The last time the US waged a successful military campaign was the six-month Gulf War (1990-1991) in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. The eight-year (2003-2011) “Iraq War” and subsequent occupation was a “success” if you keep that definition very flexible.

Since then, it has been a string of failures from the Arab Spring to