By Josine Estuye
MANILA, (PNA) -– Vice President Jejomar Binay, speaking at the 39th Philippine Business Conference Tuesday, laid out his vision on how the Philippines would achieve resilient economy.
According to him, the economy cannot be strong if majority of Filipinos are poor, thus there is a need to eradicate poverty before anything else.
“Ensuring resiliency of our economy means ensuring the resiliency of our people. It means consciously empowering our people with the means to access and enjoy the benefits of our economic expansion,” he said.
To be able to improve the lives of the poor, he stressed the government must focus on issues like Anti-Corruption; Poverty Reduction and Empowerment of the Poor and Vulnerable; Rapid, Inclusive and Sustained Economic Growth; Just and Lasting Peace and the Rule of Law; and Integrity of the Environment and Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation.
Binay said for anti-corruption drive, the “Filipino nation should be constantly vigilant against any attempts to tarnish the hard work in the public and private sector, adding that a an ideal nation must prosper without any political partisanship and will punish the guilty as proven with due process of the law.
Another priority, he noted, is the issue on poverty reduction, which has two critical elements that need to be addressed: the existence of endemic poverty that affects 28 percent of the population, and the persistence of unemployment despite the country’s high economic growth.
“We cannot be simply ecstatic about our continuing credit upgrades without thinking about whether Amer in Lanao del Sur, Abdel in Maguindanao or Mang Jose in the mountains of Apayao or Aling Nene in the alleys of Eastern Samar are able to bring food on their table for their families,” Binay added, referring to the 5 of the poorest provinces in the country.
“Taking to heart the needs of our poorest kababayans or countrymen is part of Good Governance,” he added.
Likewise, the job and skill mismatch, which he said is the main cause of unemployment, is now being addressed by public and private partnership.
“The Philippine Business for Education or PBED has brokered a pact, between business and academe, following the German Dual technology model, to open up 100,000 paid apprenticeship positions for out of school high-school age youth,” he said.
“Business has to aggressively work with the education sector to craft a human resource development plan for the country that is aligned with the growth strategies of Philippine business,” Binay added.
Also, for rapid and inclusive economic growth, Binay said the government and the business sector need to focus on productivity, innovation and efficiency; energy independence and security; and infrastructure to make Philippine industries more competitive.
“Improving the business environment in the country means promoting a consistent, predictable, and responsive policy environment and reducing the cost of doing business by, among others, streamlining bureaucratic procedures and lowering the cost of power which is already one of the highest in the region,” he said.
Binay also said there is a need to prioritize and put in place infrastructure facilities, and form an integrated and multi-modal national transport and logistics system that connects underserved but productive areas and communities to markets and social services.
He also called for business leaders’ “unending support,” saying the government’s success can only be made possible by working closely with all stakeholders, especially the private sector.
“I would like to encourage all of you to remain steadfast in working with us and engage your government in timely cooperation through the many projects that we have in the pipeline. After all, government cannot do without business and neither can business do without government,” he said.
The vice president ended that in order to sustain economic development, government officials must avoid knee-jerk reactions to issues, avoid any ad hoc type of leadership, and live up to the true principle of good governance.
“We must govern efficiently and competently. After all, this is what we are expected to do,” he concluded.