"The Philippines through a New Lens: An Introduction to the New Administration"

I was privileged to attend the general membership meeting of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) of the Philippines last May 25, 2022, entitled “The Philippines through a New Lens: An Introduction to the New Administration”. For their guest speaker, AmCham invited Professor Victor Andres “Dindo” Manhit, founder and managing director of Stratbase Group and also president of the Albert del Rosario Institute for Strategic and International Studies.

?However sensitive the topic was, discussing it was essential for gaining clarity on what to expect from the new administration for the next six years. Among the issues that the new administration needs to focus on are rapid employment growth, sustaining high-income growth, and extracting great productivity from the national government—significant challenges that the previous administration failed to overcome. The private sector has a critical role in addressing these issues and should not wait for the government to tell them what to do. Additionally, the private sector needs to ascertain whether the new administration provides the right resources and an environment that it perceives as a solution to the problems it inherited.

According to a Pulse Asia survey conducted last March 17-21, 2022, these are the most urgent national concerns that the new administration has to face:

And the data shown below was how the public perceived the presidential candidates:

The new administration’s plans for the Philippines were stated during the campaign, and their first step in addressing the problems brought about by the pandemic is unity. According to Incoming President Marcos, for the Philippines to revitalize the economy, the country has to move some public expenditure away from non-investment expenditures. Thus, for the Foreign Policy, he is considering what is best for the Philippines and how to achieve it, given existing partnerships, alliances, and how they will stand in the new world order.

Shown below is the new administration’s action plan for tackling national concerns of the Filipino people:

Meanwhile, this quote from the Philippine Daily Inquirer reiterates that we should not squander another six years with the new administration.

In relation to this, a Stratbase ADR Institute publication, entitled “Beyond the Crisis: A Strategic Agenda for the Next President”, provides policy recommendations and points of action and intervention the new administration may choose to take.

According to former BSP Deputy Governor, Diwa C. Guinigundo, the new administration’s move towards pursuing an investment-led and more sustainable economic growth must be put in health mitigation in order to minimize further risk of uncertainty, as experienced during the first two years of the pandemic. Below are points to consider:

• ?Pursue policies and legislative measures that promote investments to address health and economic ramifications of the pandemic, anchoring growth and resilience models on investments and building cross-border partnerships and collaborations for long-term solutions for protection from economic crises and stress.
• Strengthen the healthcare system with investments, filling the gaps in this sector to address the impact of COVID-19 and potential issues that may arise.
• Refocus on governance issues such as poverty, inequality, corruption, and bureaucracy for sustainable growth and development.
• ?Expand market reach and investment climate by upgrading infrastructure, including digital.

?Dr. Diokno-Sicat then shared how the Philippines can move towards inclusive growth with innovative public sector governance, given the challenges brought about by the impact of COVID-19. He cited the following:

• Strategize fiscal consolidation by balancing recovery through infrastructural and human capital investments.
• Increase the participation and contribution of local government units in economic recovery through strengthened development planning and investment programming, enhancing local revenue mobilization, and providing alternative arrangements for developed goods and services.
• Implement institutional and governance innovations that cut across the public sector, including data and information systems and harnessing digitalization.

?The issue on inequality and its long-term and potentially detrimental impact on social cohesion, political stability, and economic growth and development was raised by Dr. Mendoza. Further exacerbating this is the continuous struggle with threats of disaster vulnerability, upward social mobility, and political inequality. The study zeroes in on reforms that builds strong social safety nets and enhances competition in the market economy and political system to break free from the inequality trap.

• ??Recognize that political and electoral reforms, not economic reforms alone, should be prioritized to effect real reform to address deep-seated structural weaknesses.
• Promote inequality reduction in the lens of governance to achieve political stability, crisis resilience, and sustained economic development.
• ??Review implementation strategies of passed laws and revisit stalled legislative measures that address the inequality issue such as TRAIN, Bangsamoro Basic Law, Rice Tariffication Law, Universal Health Care Law, 4Ps Law, Rightsizing the National Government, Freedom of Information Law, Anti-Political Dynasty Law, etc.

?Dr. Magno puts forward an agenda for development through reforms and innovation anchored on building strong institutions for citizen deliberation, participation, and oversight in the exercise of authority and the disbursement of public resources. As anti-corruption efforts require a comprehensive approach, institutional strengthening, government effectiveness, and efficiency in the delivery of public services should simultaneously follow suit, facilitated by legislative, political, bureaucratic, and digital reforms.

• ?Build a comprehensive approach for corruption prevention and promote transparency and accountability in the public sector.
• Enable the interoperability of the government in the delivery of service through e-governance.
• Strengthen and identify areas of convergence for different levels of government in development planning, investment programming, and budgeting.
• Anchor the governance agenda on sustainable development goals.

?Dr. David also shared his thoughts on government support and greater private sector participation to accentuate the essential role of agriculture and the establishment of self-contained food production areas. In line with this, five strategies to achieve this goal need to be utilized: adapt climate-resilient measures, promote crop overproduction and food processing, strategic farm development for cool-weather crops, smallholder farm optimization and land consolidation strategies, and the creation of social enterprise farms.

• ?Adapt a climate-resilient agriculture sector that would advance production and growth through a government-industry synergized strategy.
• Promote crop overproduction and food processing with a guaranteed purchase agreement between the private sector and/or government.
• Optimize smallholder farms, instead of mechanization, and the promotion of land consolidation strategies.
• Encourage the creation of social enterprise farms, which will be the main training ground for the next generation of farmers—an ecosystem consisting of these important elements is what is referred to as Food Production Areas.

The approach towards the reformulation of the National Security Strategy was provided by Dr. De Castro. Taking into context the lessons learned from the Duterte Administration, he proposes a strategy promoting territorial and sovereign rights based on the 2016 Arbitral Ruling, incorporating and highlighting human security priorities such as Public Health Security, continuing efforts to the AFP modernization program, implementing organizational and legislative reforms involving the PP and AFP, and strengthening existing and new alliances and partnerships with multilateral organizations committed to a rules-based international system. He reiterated the following points to consider:

• Formulate a new National Security Strategy based on the 2016 Arbitral Ruling to direct attention and resources.
• ?Incorporate non-traditional security priorities, such as public health, in the National Security Strategy and the National Development Plan.
• ?Continue efforts for the Armed Forces of the Philippines Modernization Program, with specific focus on asymmetrical warfare capabilities.
• ?Increase the Philippine defense budget to effect these reforms, especially with the Armed Forces of the Philippines Modernization Program, and allocate funds for resources needed to address current and potential security threats.

?This discussion highlighted the significance of observing the external environment for emerging trends and development and their possible impact on national interests. However, this discussion also emphasized the critical role of the Philippines in both international and regional affairs as doubts increase due to the reorientation towards a multipolar world, evolving global norms and initiatives of multilateral cooperation and economic diplomacy, and the changing definition of security and development. The following actions must be ruminated by the next administration:

• ??Implement a clear, cohesive, and consistent foreign policy direction, prioritizing the country's national interests—politics and security, economic diplomacy, and welfare of the Filipinos.
• ?Integrate current and emerging trends and developments from the Philippines' external environment to prioritize responsiveness and future-oriented direction of Philippine foreign policy.
• Strengthen the country's role in international politics and its inherent state power by developing its military, economic, scientific, and cultural capabilities, and strengthening alliances and strategic partnerships.

?An enabling and stable environment, where the private and non-government sectors can evaluate the right resources from the government should be asserted. The past administration's whimsical and arbitrary decisions and pronouncements created a culture of animosity between the government, the private sector, and civil society. The initiatives of the private sector and civil society in resolving crises and reviving the economy were restrained. Without this, the private sector could have accomplished greater deeds. If it were only seen as a valuable partner by the government, it could have done more to improve the economic and social lives of the people. A three-way trusting relationship between the government, the private sector, and civil society will be essential in the promotion of business operations, social relations, and national recovery and development efforts.

Welcoming the new administration brought us both uncertainties and fears of having to face the same challenges the past administration failed to resolve. Thus, moving forward would not be possible without a clear platform and without knowing how the new administration can execute the plans they laid out during the campaign.

As for my take away from this topic, I am more inclined to not wait for the government to act like nobody’s watching. We should be more vigilant in exercising our rights as Filipino people so that the government will see and hear us. Thus, just like John Clements President and CEO Carol Dominguez said, we should not let these uncertainties and chaos that come with welcoming a new administration slow us down, we should use every possible situation that will come our way to step forward, widen and strengthen our network, and improve ourselves.