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Water
will always seek its own level no matter how many dams
you erect to contain or control its free float.
This
also holds true in looking for a scapegoat, such as the
practice of government officials to escape blame for
their poor performance.
Such
exactly happened in the case of the current strong peso.
You can
even blame the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) for
making the floating peso, in the words of Socio-economic
Planning Secretary Romulo Neri, “uncomfortably strong,”
but that’s the way it is in a “free economy” controlled
by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The OFWs,
erstwhile called the new heroes of the Philippines for
saving it from economic ruin, appear to be Neri’s new
villains because the $24 billion that they regularly
remit to their families back home is getting
uncomfortable in his eyes.
The
apple of his eyes may probably be the export sector,
which Neri now calls as the battered sector to defend it
from the strong peso President Arroyo portrays.
What can
be more battered than the OFW sector whose members, men
and women, are literally and physically battered,
abused, raped and threatened by proposals from the
religious sector and the Bureau of Internal Revenue that
want the remittances of laborers taxed?
Neri of
the export sector
Neri,
who comes from the export sector being a former
executive of the Yulo-owned sugar companies and being an
ex-employee of oil exporter Mobil Oil, had this curt
reply to a newspaper reporter’s query on the sad plight
of the OFWs and their families:
“Well,
they are not being taxed anyway, so that’s their
consolation.”
He seems
to be unaware of the proposal of the BIR and of either
De La Salle or Ateneo de Manila to tax the overseas
incomes of Filipinos abroad, conveniently setting aside
the clamor that religious schools and churches must
likewise be taxed.
To add
insult to OFWs’ wounded pride, their remittances,
according to Neri, “are getting higher anyway.” This was
in reply to the same question of whether these overseas
workers are also adversely affected by the “strong”
peso.
“Remittances are increasing because there’s an upgrade
in the quality of jobs,” he said, then appealed for
understanding in the case of the commodity exporters:
“We have to help our exporters in terms of upgrading
quality and better credit terms.”
That
looks like a one-sided love affair in favor of Neri’s
sector.
Uncomfortable peso
No, Mr.
Neri, the remittances are increasing not because of the
quality of their jobs but because of their strong
determination to continue sending their foreign exchange
to loved ones despite the uncomfortable peso and despite
the lack of jobs available to them in the Philippines.
This
public official should know that budgeting is a task
that is almost an impossible job to accomplish when
there’s no money coming from local employment. He knows
that by heart, being a former budget secretary.
The
commodity export market needs peso-dollar protection
from the government and their friends in the government,
but protecting them at the expense of the labor export
sector called the OFW is, to say the least, a rude
example of how some people approach human dignity.
Arrest
the peso or arrest them
What
Neri should do, together with his National Economic and
Development Authority (Neda), Bangko Sentral ng
Pilipinas (BSP) and the assigned Cabinet cluster
committees is to arrest the foreign currency and stock
market manipulators—arrest meaning putting them in jail.
They
need no market corrections, sideways or otherwise.
Correctional can also be the more appropriate terms for
these recidivists.
The
export sector is saying that because of the strong peso,
its peso earnings are getting smaller.
Well,
the same is true with the incomes of the OFWs but they
are not asking Bangko Sentral and Neda to extend them
preferential rates like the ones being suggested for the
export sector.
Everybody must suffer from the uncomfortably strong peso
if that is what the market dictates. Let the peso rise
or fall because that is the law of gravity, also known
as the law of supply and demand.
“In the
long run, [a strong peso] will have an impact on export
growth, especially for those with local content,” Neri
said.
“That’s
unless we do it the way the Japanese did it: Keep on
upgrading products so that even if they have to increase
prices, their products are still marketable. We have to
help our exporters in terms of upgrading quality and
better credit terms.”
Five
years ago, Neri, then only 52, was appointed
socioeconomic planning secretary.
He said
that although Mrs. Arroyo had backed his reform
proposals, he worried they could still be hijacked by
politically well-connected groups.
Are his
quotes still valid these days?
E-mail: raulbvalino@yahoo.com.ph. |
