|
Monday, July 23, 2007
Arroyo lays out 3-year economic road map
MANILA (Updated 5:26 p.m.) -- President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Monday used one of the most stable periods of her troubled tenure to tout her government's economic successes and promise the impatient poor that they will benefit soon.
Making her seventh annual State of the Nation Address (Sona) as at least 3,000 protesters swarmed near the House of Representatives complex in suburban Quezon City, Arroyo told a joint session of Congress that she hopes the Philippines can join the ranks of wealthy nations in 20 years.
Running Account of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s State of the Nation Address
"By then, poverty shall have been marginalized, and the marginalized raised to a robust middle-class," Arroyo said. "We will achieve the hallmarks of a modern society where institutions are strong. By 2010, the Philippines should be well on its way to achieving that vision."
Arroyo has gone from crisis to crisis, fending off at least three coup attempts and two impeachment efforts since taking office during the country's second "people power" revolt in January 2001.
But midterm elections quashed the opposition's hopes of initiating another impeachment effort, leaving her with no likely legal challenges until her term ends in 2010.
That doesn't mean clear sailing, though. Coup rumors always are bubbling, and Congress is divided, with Arroyo backers ruling the House and the opposition increasing its advantage in the Senate.
Showcasing the rowdy politics that have hounded her rule, the new House - meeting for the first time - engaged in hours of tense verbal tussles to elect a speaker. Jose de Venecia eventually won a record fifth term.
Decrying Arroyo for alleged human rights abuses, the protesters burned a four-meter (13-foot) effigy of her as a winged witch. A large contingent of police and troops ensured they stayed well away from the House.
Arroyo, the daughter of a president, is a former economic professor. Her speech sometimes sounded like a lecture as she detailed how the economy is growing at its fastest pace in 17 years, surging 6.9 percent in the first quarter of 2007. The stock market has hit an all-time high and the peso is at a seven-year high against the US dollar.
Arroyo promised record levels of funding over the next three years for infrastructure projects to increase business confidence, efforts to crush terrorism and bring peace to the troubled Mindanao region, and a stronger and wider social safety net that includes better education, cheap medicines, and affordable housing.
Economists have credited Arroyo with crucial fiscal reforms to hike revenues, reduce the budget deficit and tame inflation while inviting more foreign investment. But critics say growth has not alleviated poverty or significantly reduced unemployment.
The World Bank said investments amounted to 15 percent of gross domestic product in the first quarter, while comparable economies were attracting 20 percent or higher.
Nearly half of the country's 87 million people still live on US$2 (euro1.45) a day, and 10 percent of the population works abroad, sending home US$12.8 billion (euro9.8 billion) last year in remittances.
To maintain the pace of reforms and increase growth, Arroyo has invited foreign companies to participate in huge infrastructure projects worth nearly US$1.7 billion (euro1.2 billion). The projects will involve the construction or expansion of roads, bridges, irrigation systems, and power transmission and generation facilities, and existing railway systems.
Once backed by the powerful Roman Catholic church, Arroyo has found herself increasingly isolated, and Archbishop Oscar Cruz criticized her in his Web log.
"Words are only good as long as the one saying them is not only trustworthy and credible, but also capable of making them realities," Cruz wrote.
"When someone is much discredited and thus deeply distrusted, his or her words are simply discarded and ridiculed as well, as to the supposedly good intention behind promises and predictions,” he said, adding, "There is a saying that hell is full of good intentions."
But Cerge Remonde, director-general of the Presidential Management Staff, said leaders face an impossible task because politics has become so divisive.
"Whoever sits as president of the Philippines, even if Jesus Christ will come down to become president, he'll end up being nailed to the cross. That's how difficult governance is in this country," he said. (AP)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Manila. (July 23, 2007 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
|
|
[return to top]
[home]
|
|
