LEGAZPI CITY—Albay Gov. Joey Salceda, one of President Arroyo’s key economic advisers, sees something wrong with the present government’s economic policies as he called on Malacañang to institute corrections that would require more state interventions on behalf of the poor.

“Markets have miserably failed to lift the poor with the 5.3-percent gross domestic product (GDP) versus job loss of 178,000 in the first quarter of this year,” Salceda said here over the weekend.

While the administration spends P156 billion for capital outlay for growth, he said the investment does not give direct subsidies to the poor even as the President has approved a three-year, P316-billion subsidy program to cushion the impact of spiraling prices of rice and oil.

The social protection program that would include P28 billion in subsidies annually to 4.7 million households living below the poverty threshold would not also hold water unless a review is undertaken on the administration’s economic policies amid the emerging global economic conditions that have made social re-balancing a most urgent and critical national issue, Salceda said.

The country is now facing a population problem with 88.6 million people versus low natural resources and government resources in terms of education, social and health services, he explained.

The governor said the interplay of climate change, food security and energy independence will require new formulation of ecostrategic mix.

He said the funding of new investments without compromising the Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan would also require a review of the “balanced budget” doctrine as the borrowing mix is a key economic decision of the Department of Finance and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

Salceda also cited economic indicators that need to be corrected, such as the 4-percent decline in real capita income of Filipinos; the increase of 477,000 poor households; the deterioration in poverty incidence from 24 percent to 27.4 percent; the fall in household share of national income from 54 percent to 46 percent, or P454 billion in peso terms aggravated by 178,000 job losses despite the 32-percent increase in nominal gross national product.

“I am strongly recommending that a review be made on the present policies that would help the country’s economic managers draw appropriate new solutions and approaches that should stream through the technocracy and bureaucracy,” he said.

The current policies are not reflective in the budget, noting that “offhand, at the minimum, the country’s budget does not reflect that,” Salceda said.

He said to correct the country’s current economic policies, there is a need for more state interventions on behalf of the poor.

The current population policy is simply indefensible in the face of resource depletion, Salceda added.

More state interventions needed for the poor–Salceda

LEGAZPI CITY—Albay Gov. Joey Salceda, one of President Arroyo’s key economic advisers, sees something wrong with the present government’s economic policies as he called on Malacañang to institute corrections that would require more state interventions on behalf of the poor.

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