Thursday, January 13, 2005
Gov’t failing Pinoys, says FVR
By Charmaine Y. Rodriguez
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
Former president Fidel Ramos yesterday urged Filipinos to take on “weapons of mass upliftment” like education, innovation and teamwork to battle what he called the country’s real enemies: poverty, disunity, greed, selfishness and complacency.
Ramos, who gave yesterday the 11th Don Vicente Gullas Memorial Lecture for the 88th anniversary of the University of the Visayas (UV), said people-empowering reforms will lead to the country’s greater competitiveness in the 21st century.
“Our shared vision of a higher quality of life for all Filipinos could be put within reach if our leaders—in the executive, legislative, judicial and private sectors—perform as they pray and pray as they perform,” he said.
Although he acknowledged the prevailing sentiment of ordinary Filipinos, as well as many leaders who are now downhearted and demoralized, he reminded the nation of the “greater crises and serious challenges” that the Filipinos have overcome.
Citing the Competitiveness Report of Switzerland’s International Institute of Management Development (IMD), Ramos noted that during his term, the Philippines ranked 31st among 49 countries.
It fell to 40th place two years ago and in 2003.
Skilled labor
However, he noted “interesting” details of the report, which said that among the 49 countries, the Philippines ranked first in the availability of skilled workers, third in the availability of senior managers and fourth in people skilled in information and computer technology.
It also ranked 10th in accounting and financial skills and 12th in the number of qualified engineers.
Weaknesses, however, lie in the prevalence of tax evaders (45th), poor infrastructure (47th) and the level of corruption in government, where the country ranked 48th.
“In short, the IMD report confirms what you and I know, what most Filipinos know fully well. Our country’s strengths are people’s strengths. But our country’s weaknesses are government’s weaknesses,” he pointed out.
“It is government, and I am talking here not just about the officials at the national level but, indeed, the entire gamut of the legislative, judicial and executive branches, to include local government units, which have been failing the Filipino,” he added.
Governance, Ramos stressed, has become the crucial element in a country’s competitiveness since people and resources can now be imported or “outsourced.”
Homegrown
“The only thing countries cannot outsource is good government itself, which must be homegrown. If we cannot import good government, neither can we export bad politicians—even if we may sorely be tempted to do so, as some of us here want to happen,” he added with a laugh.
He urged government to set its priorities straight by not getting in the way of people’s enterprise and by dismantling barriers, such as red tape and excessive regulations.
Moreover, he said the government should promote self-help and self-reliance through entrepreneurship.
The People’s Credit and Finance Corp., which allowed non-collateral lending to the poor during his term, yielded a repayment rate of 98.6 percent, Ramos cited.
“This means, there is honor among the poor. They have respect and they want to pay on time and in the right amounts,” he said.
Both Rep. Eduardo Gullas (Cebu, 1st district), UV’s president, and Dr. Jose Gullas, the school’s executive vice president, chose Ramos as guest speaker because his father, former foreign affairs secretary Narciso Ramos, belonged to the same high school class as their father, UV founder Don Vicente Gullas.
Students, teachers and education officials attended yesterday’s lecture at the UV main campus audiovisual room.
Aside from delivering the lecture, the former president donated to the university about 30 books, mostly published by the Ramos Peace and Development Foundation.
(January 13, 2005 issue)
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