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President Gloria Arroyo, in her state of the Nation address (SONA)
Monday, drew the picture of how the Philippines, facing a “better
and brighter future” in 2007, suddenly found itself in the grip of
an economic storm caused by the fuel and food crises.
“Just a few months ago, we ended 2007
with the strongest economic growth in a generation. Inflation was
low, the peso strong and a million new jobs were created. We were
all looking to a better and brighter future,” she said.
But with the price of oil reaching its
highest levels in the world market and with the rising cost of rice
and other prime commodities, she said “uncertainty has moved like
a terrible tsunami around the globe, wiping away gains, erasing
progress.”
With foresight and political will, the
President said her administration was able to build a “shield”
to cushion the impact of the global crisis on the Filipino people,
particularly those least able to protect themselves from the
resulting high inflation.
The President mentioned certain groups of
people who need government assistance to weather the economic
downturn—the farmers, the teachers and the hardworking students
hoping for a good job after graduation.
What did she have to offer our workers,
both employed locally and overseas? What steps has she taken to ease
the unemployment rate that rose to 8 percent from 7.4 percent last
year?
“I care for our OFWs [Overseas Filipino
Workers], famed for their skill, integrity and untiring labor, who
send home their pay as the only way to touch loved ones so far
away,” she said, praising them for their heroism.
To her credit, the President has proven
her concern for OFWs, especially those in distress, on many
occasions in the past. She had gone out of her way to save a
Filipino maid sentenced to death for murder in Kuwait by personally
seeking the intervention of that country’s top ruler.
We were expecting to hear from her what
the government has in store for the OFWs in return for their yearly
remittances that have become the lifeblood of the country’s
economy, but the President said nothing.
In an earlier editorial, we cited figures
showing that the deployment of OFWs would exceed the country’s
goal of one million this year. This means there would be a
corresponding increase in the dollar earnings the overseas workers
will have to remit to their families. The projection of the Bangko
Sentral ng Pilipinas is $16 billion at yearend.
On the issue of unemployment, the
President bared the government’s P350-million partnership
agreement with the private sector in the field of call centers,
medical transcription, animation and software development. This, she
said, could create one million jobs and generate as much as $13
billion by 2010.
She stressed the need for “building”
bridges to other friendly countries to bring in investments for
creating more jobs.
The President recalled that in 2001, she
launched a cash-for-work program called “Oyster” for
out-of-school youths in the National Capital Region. Today, she
said, there are more than 20,000 youths working under that project.
Taking cognizance of the need to raise
world-class workers, the government had intensified the training of
workers under the Technical Education and Skill Development
Authority. In the past seven years, according to her, 7.74 million
took up technical and vocational courses. Last year, 1.7 million
graduated, many of them women.
The President’s non-wage benefits for
workers played a significant part in her speech. This is the income
tax exemption for those receiving a salary of not more than P200,000
annually. This constitutes a total of P12- billion worth of taxes
that low-income workers will save each year for themselves and their
families.
Other poverty-alleviation programs
mentioned by the President are the relaxation of the credit
facilities of the Social Security System and Pag-Ibig for their
members and the approved increases in SSS benefits and in the
pension of GSIS members.
The President rallied the government workers to
be “more responsive and accountable to the people.” These are
challenging times, the President said, that require all to be
“more helpful, more courteous, more quick.”
All of these non-OFW specific programs will of
course also benefit OFWs and their families. But it would have
raised the level of trust and affection for her among our overseas
heroes if she had given them more importance in the SONA.
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