As Davao City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte prepares to take the helm of the national government, his governance agenda is being incrementally revealed through recent announcements and potential appointments. Foremost among these is the eight-point economic agenda presented by former Agriculture Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez. Our conclusion, like those who have analyzed the agenda, is that the general economic direction will remain unchanged. Nonetheless, we note the following critical components that can propel growth to better sustainability and inclusivity.
First, “addressing restrictive economic provisions in the Constitutions and our laws” will attempt to bolster foreign direct investments, particularly in sectors requiring large funding, such as infrastructure. Relaxing the restriction on foreign ownership of firms may also expand public-private partnerships (PPPs), especially as the pool of local participants has been limited to a few conglomerates. This could open up more resource options, more expertise and technology transfers in the domestic economy. Coupled with the target infrastructure investments of about 5 percent of GDP, public infrastructure growth can significantly sustain further economic expansion.
Second, “pursue a genuine agricultural development strategy by providing support services to the small farmers to increase their productivity…” is a critical antipoverty platform, given the majority of the Filipino poor who work in agriculture. The new administration needs to carefully consider the different agricultural products and capacities in the different provinces, and not come up with a one-size-fits-all agricultural policy. The recent pronouncement on continuing the target of rice self-sufficiency will limit the growth potential of other agricultural products and services as proven in the past. It would be good to identify what agricultural workers can sustainably produce in specific areas by reviewing the topology of the countryside and assessing the available skills set in different farming communities. In addition, there is an observation that poor agricultural productivity can be traced to weak incentives. As fewer people would like to remain working in the sector, part of the strategy should be to look at how rural nonfarm employment can complement agricultural improvement.
Finally, “expand and improve implementation of the Conditional Cash-Transfer [CCT] Program” suggests continuity of the Aquino administration’s centerpiece social program. Implemented for the last seven years, stretching back to the Arroyo administration, the CCT has been a critical element in addressing social inequalities. However, it is important for the incoming government to think of this program as a human capital-investment strategy rather than an antipoverty program. The CCT should complement income-generating and job-producing programs to address immediate poverty, such as the community-driven development projects of the Department of Social Welfare and Development. Moreover, the targeting mechanism must be improved to cover more families in severely
depressed regions. It would also be good to start differentiating this strategy with the rights-based interventions for indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities and other marginalized sectors. The latter are meant to address a wholly different dimension of poverty.
Other aspects of the agenda are interrelated with these three points. For sustainable economic growth, there is a need to harmonize all these into one cohesive agenda that addresses the macroeconomy, government capacities, sectoral priorities and poverty.
Connecting this eight-point agenda with the recent announcements provides us with the expected priorities of the Duterte Administration. Announcements of appointments in the departments of Transportation and Communications, Foreign Affairs, Public Works, Agriculture and Peace Process reveal that economic and political stability are the key goals of the new administration. Offering the departments of Labor, Agrarian Reform, Environment and Social Welfare to the Communist Party of the Philippines shows the incoming president’s desire for peace and security to be achieved early in his term. These are the broad strokes at the national level that are compensated by the recent pronouncements of Duterte himself on how he would respond to the day-to-day issues of the citizens. His announcements on the barangay-level crackdown on drugs, nationwide curfew on minors, limiting liquor sale up to midnight, ban on drinking in public and late-night karaoke sessions are considered local- and micro-level changes that he wants to implement. They also send signals to local authorities that a national standard is going to be imposed along these, and that local officials should comply with the benchmarks set by the Executive branch.
These latter announcements are connecting directly with the daily issues that confound people. Our last two columns discussed that much of the election issues really center around day-to-day concerns related to peace and order, and petty corruption. These issues may look small, but aggregately they result to frustration. Hence, while the business and broader community waited for the economic agenda, the broad segment of the population waited on what change will look like in their community. We do not know what the final configuration of the agenda will be, but it is getting clear that there is going to be a lot of work for local governments.