When will the war in the Middle East end? I believe even US President Donald Trump doesn’t know. Raging now and still counting the consequences of the war will even make us poorer.The Philippine government, at this stage is in need of money. Its need is a bottomless pit and maybe forced to remove excise taxes and scrapes the bottom.
When will the Marcos Jr. government throw the red flag? For long a time the finances, are in precarious balance because there was not much money in the treasury. Under the Marcos Jr. watch the annual budget is increasing, (to satisfy the appetite for corruption of most senators and congressmen) so our indebtedness which is close to P19 trillion now may baloon further.
May I throw my two cents worth solution. But first, I remember my discussion with President and CEO of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority ( BCDA) Joshua ‘Jake’ Bingcang on the sidelines during a meeting in Clark Freeport. The issue we discussed was the proposed disposal of certain percentage, around 5% , of the areas of former US military bases. Then I pointed out an article I wrote in February 2020 wherein I proposed a solution on how to make trillions and trillions of pesos. Too good to be true? It is true! Forget the five percent President Bingcang.
The need is endless for a struggling government which rely heavily on borrowings and dollar remittances of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW). Lately many of our kababayans were thrown out of jobs. In short, the remittances from abroad will be lessened. Meantime, more billions of pesos are needed. The government needs more money, money and more money. I suggested then that there was no need to cross oceans and with stretched palms begging for more aids for foreign donations if we will sell some hectares of base land at a premium price. Yes Virginia let’s sell what we owned. It’s just like when a family is pushed to the wall and need money badly he will resort to sell something of value.
Here’s the proposal. All. what we have to do is put a deed on the land titles owned by our government now which were formerly base lands used by the American military forces. Clark Freeport is one example. Congress should make a serious study on this. The template is Fort Bonifacio in Taguig. The former home of our country’s armed services was allowed by law to dispose the more than 300 hectares through sale and lease. Look, it morphed from a military camp into bustling metropolis with high rise buildings complete with modern day amenities.