AS our economy moves forward in 2024 and beyond, there is a growing consensus that reforms are needed in various areas to improve the state of our nation and to uplift the lives of the Filipino people.
In the case of education and health, a proper assessment is necessary to determine the required reforms. In the case of economic liberalization, there is a consensus among economists and the business sector that the economic provisions of the 1987 Philippine Constitution should be liberalized.
Amending our Charter, however, must go hand in hand with addressing other critical issues: the cost of power, the traffic problem, enforcing contracts, reliable internet speeds, and the development of human capital.
The bottom line is we need to send a certain and predictable signal to the global investor community: the Philippines is ready, able, and willing to accept foreign direct investments.
This past year we confronted five challenges that we must continue to address to sustain the gains and progress made by the Philippine economy. These include inflation, growth, investments, education, and health.
• In January, the nation grappled with an inflation high of 8.7% driven by soaring food, housing, and utilities costs.
The agricultural sector, particularly the rice market, experienced severe inflation, peaking at 17.9% in September.
The government’s swift policy responses and improved import strategies have stabilized the situation, with expectations for further reductions in rice prices if productivity enhancements are achieved through the National Rice Program with a 2024 budget allotment of 30.9 billion pesos.
• GDP growth in the second quarter was lower than expected at 4.3 percent. The global economy faced headwinds, characterized by heightened inflation and slow growth amid supply chain disruptions, increased demand, and geopolitical tensions.
With the Executive implementing catch-up plans in government spending and Congress’ commitment to perform its oversight functions, the economy has recovered, growing by 5.9 percent, with government spending expanding to 6.7 percent in the latest GDP Growth Rate report.
For growth to be inclusive, however, it is crucial to maintain job creation efforts and minimize job losses during economic recovery.
• In 2023, overall gross capital formation saw a year-on-year decrease of 1.6 percent, a decline somewhat mitigated by the upsurge in public spending during the third quarter.
Additionally, the period from January to September 2023 witnessed a significant downturn in foreign direct investments, registering a 15.9 percent decline compared to the same period in the previous year.
Despite these investment trends, there are substantial commitments that were fruits of diplomatic missions led by the President, including investments totaling $4.089 billion for eight projects, $790.58 million for 11 projects, and $398.17 million for nine projects as of December 21. \
This underscores the importance of creating a more attractive investment climate and competitive business environment.
• Recent PISA results emphasize the need for urgent reforms as they reveal that Filipino students still lag behind their peers from other countries, with dismal rankings in Math, Reading, and Science––and rank 77th among 81 countries for all subject areas. It is hoped that the 10.16% increase in the education budget for 2024, as well as the roll-out of the MATATAG curriculum for Basic Education, will address this concern.
• The State of Public Health Emergency was lifted in the Philippines on July 21, 2023. With the pandemic now behind us, we must work towards ensuring that our health system can provide a sufficient response when another pandemic happens.
A critical step towards this is to establish a robust and resilient healthcare infrastructure and develop sufficient human resources for health.
This is supported by a 6.2% increase in the budget for the Health Facilities Enhancement Program in 2024. Beyond infrastructure and health manpower, reforms are needed to fortify our health system.
Something must be done to address inefficiencies in healthcare finance, resulting in huge out-of-pocket spending borne by Filipino families.
For this reason, I filed House Resolution 1436, which aims to convene a Joint Congressional Commission of Health Systems to review and assess the Philippine Health System.
The task ahead for 2024 is to pave the way for major, long-overdue structural economic reforms, including economic charter change. In 2023, to uphold the interests of our constituents, we in the 19th Congress accepted this challenge; this new year, we shall do so again.
