Boasting about the progress made by his administration, President Benigno Aquino III on Tuesday vowed to make the country even more competitive for investors.
“The bottom line here is: if we want businesses to set up shop here and create
jobs for our people, we have to be competitive,” Aquino said in his speech during the Philippine Investment Forum in Makati City.
He said the government has to focus on industries where there are actual opportunities for mutual benefit.
“The world is getting increasingly smaller, and we find ourselves pitted against countries who have very competitive business propositions. We cannot compromise our position by making life more difficult for companies because of corruption or red tape,” he said.
Aquino then added that government cannot sacrifice the jobs created by the businesses, because it is the people who will take the brunt of the hit if the businesses choose to operate elsewhere.
“We need to continue fostering a good environment for business—one that is both stable and predictable. I assure everyone here today: this belief will always be a core principle of our administration; and I invite all of you to ride this wave of optimism early, and invest in our country, be it in agriculture, infrastructure, tourism, or any other sector. We are eager to work with all of you.” Aquino said.
Political will
“Let no one doubt that we are doing the three things which were previously thought of as impossible: we are calling people to account; we are putting closure to the controversies that had sapped our institutions of their vigor and had diminished their legitimacy in the eyes of our countrymen; in other words, we are exercising political will,” he said.
He noted that his administration had reformed the manner of allocating and dispensing public funds.
“We have thrown the book at the thieves; and we are collecting what the government is due. That is how we are fighting corruption, and making a mark. We have fought the culture of naysaying and negativity, and have given a sense of empowerment to our people, replacing the hopelessness of the past with a steadfast commitment to building a society that indeed works. We have put an end to business as usual and proclaimed a country open for real business,” Aquino said.
Stock index
Because of the reforms, he noted that the Philippine
Stock Exchange index was able to break the 4,000 point-barrier and even breached 5,000 points.
“The PSEi closed at another record high just 11 days ago at 5,145.89 points. For those of you keeping score: that’s 21 record highs in the 21 months of our administration,” he said.
He also noted that international organizations have started to take a second look at the Philippines and even recognized the reforms.
“Suffice to say: we are proud of the progress we have made, but we are not satisfied with just this. We Filipinos know just how much potential this country has; and we are working even longer nights to fulfill this potential,” he said.
Aquino said for this year, his administration is focusing on three specific sectors -- namely: agriculture, infrastructure, and tourism -- that will have the largest impact on the economy and in the lives of our people and expected to create much-needed jobs in the timeliest manner.
Aquino said his administration increased the budget of the Department of Agriculture by more than 50 percent to P53.3 billion to finance irrigation
projects, more farm-to-market roads, and more buying posts.
He said these projects will directly impact the lives of those who find their livelihoods in agriculture, and will move the country closer to the goal of reaching rice self-sufficiency in 2013 “which we believe extremely doable.”
On the infrastructure programs, as of March 15, the Department of Public Works and Highways reported that it has bidded out nearly 90 percent of the 2,128 projects worth P63 billion this year.
He said 91percent of the projects have already been issued notices to proceed and “we are confident that, very soon, we will reach 100 percent.”
LRT 1 extension project
The plan is to extend LRT Line 1 by almost 12 kilometers, from Baclaran, through Paranaque and Las Pinas, to Bacoor, Cavite.
“I have full faith that Transportation and Communication Secretary Mar Roxas will have this extension operational at the soonest possible time. That, in a little while, we will be able to expand transportation, and open the gates a little wider between Metro Manila’s and not just Cavite’s but the entire CALABARZON economies,” Aquino said.
He also noted ‘leaps and bounds’ of the tourism industry with the recorded more than 400,000 visitors in January alone, the highest monthly visitor count in the country’s history.
“If we can sustain this, we are set to welcome almost 4.8 million visitors this year. This is really close to five million,” he said.
He added that this is still quite away from the target of 10 million yearly visitors by 2016 but it is still a big leap from two years ago, when they were expecting just around three million visitors a year.
“Now there is the possibility of welcoming 5 million visitors. We still have four years and three months left to reach our target—and we know that, each year, we can grow our number of visitors closer and closer to our goal,” he said. — RSJ/KG, GMA News
