MALACAÑANG said on Thursday Charter change will take a backseat for now as it focuses on easing high consumer prices, apparently heeding the people’s signals in a poll showing inflation is the people’s most urgent concern and constitutional amendments are last.
Presidential Spokesman Harry L. Roque Jr. said on Thursday that “everything is sidelined now” because fighting inflation is the government’s “foremost priority,” although he also quickly assured that the government is not totally abandoning the shift to federalism.
“This is because, we did not really expect the immediate rise of oil and fuel prices. So I would say that even the administration acknowledges that it is more important to face the problems which is immediately felt by the citizens,” he said in a briefing. “Although we are not abandoning federalism, we will get there, but we also know that there still needs to be more discussion, more studies, and more [information] dissemination for federalism.”
The Palace issued the statement following the release of the latest Pulse Asia survey results showing that the top two most urgent national concerns that majority of Filipinos want the government to address are controlling inflation (63 percent) and improving workers’ wages (50 percent).
Of the 15 national issues, Charter change was listed as the least urgent national concern for Filipinos, registering only 3 percent.
The survey, which was conducted from September 1 to 7, coincided with the Philippine Statistics Authority’s announcement of August inflation at 6.4 percent, which is the highest in nine years.
With the August inflation figure, the average inflation for the year is already at 4.8 percent.
The Palace said, however, that the government is doing everything it can to immediately address inflation.
Earlier this week, Malacañang released four executive issuances in a bid to curb inflation by removing nontariff barriers and streamlining streamlining administrative procedures on the importation of agricultural products.
“You can see that the economic team is very active, including the Department of Agriculture and different agencies to address the rising prices of goods, although the rise in oil prices is really out of our hands. Although as I said, there is our initiative to import cheaper diesel and other oil products from non-Opec [Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries] countries,” Roque said.
The September 2018 Pulse Asia survey results also showed greater public disapproval of the work done by the government in controlling inflation, increasing by 22 percentage points to +51 from +29 recorded in its June 2018 survey.
Roque took up the cudgels for the government, saying the anti-inflationary measures being taken by the government were still new.
In the long run, he said, “we are first and foremost expecting” that oil prices will no longer rise. And, even if they do rise, “we are still expecting that at least we can bring down the prices of goods. That’s why we decided to open the local market for imported food items even though we are previously protecting local farmers because it is a must that we bring down at least the prices of goods.”
Moreover, Roque said that everything including federalism will have to play “second fiddle to the national budget for now,” when asked if the government sees the budget deliberations as a hurdle for federalism’s push.
Congress aims to pass the proposed 2019 budget of P3.757 trillion next month before its recess on October 12.
Roque said he is optimistic that federalism can be tackled by both houses after they finish budget deliberations and that it can still be an election issue for the midterm elections.
Nene’s pitch: Fill priority needs, push federalism
Meanwhile, Consultative Committee (Con-com) member and former Senate President Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. said the priority needs of the people must be given immediate attention by the government.
Still, Pimentel said he will still promote for federalism.
“As a private person, I will continue discussing federalism as a probable system of government that we can adopt to speed up the development of the country and end the shooting war among our people,” he told BusinessMirror in a message.
For his part, Con-com member Arthur N. Aguilar agreed that the government must first address inflation. “But federalism would have given the regions more flexibility and shorter response time to rising prices.
“The situation is acute due to the rice supply problem. If the regions had the power and resources to respond to the rice shortages, the inflation rate could have been mitigated,” Aguilar told BusinessMirror.
One of the President’s key campaign promises was to shift the country’s form of government from the present unitary to federal in a bid to spur economic growth across all regions and not just in “imperial Manila.”
Image credits: Valerie Escalera/Presidential Communications Operations Office