Camarines Sur Rep. and National Unity Party (NUP) president LRay Villafuerte is giving a thumbs up to President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (PBBM) and his economic managers for providing instant financial relief to ordinary consumers reeling from continued, mostly imported, elevated inflation with twin directives designed to hold off scheduled increases this 2023 in the cost of certain basic monthly expenses.
“We commend the President and his economic team for providing instant financial relief at the onset of 2023 to Filipino consumers continuously reeling from the mostly imported elevated inflation with the twin directives designed to keep at bay the impending price spirals in basic foodstuff like rice, corn and pork and the rate adjustment in the monthly premiums of PhilHealth (Philippine Health Insurance Corp.) members,” Villafuerte said.
The President issued Executive Order (EO) 10 last Dec. 29 extending for a year the temporary modification or reduced import tariff rates on pork meat (whether fresh, chilled or frozen), rice, corn and coal until Dec. 31, 2023, to alleviate the impact of inflationary pressures resulting from the continued Ukraine-Russia crisis, expand supply sources, and reduce the cost of key commodities.
“Such pro-poor, pro-consumer presidential directives illustrate anew that Mr. Marcos’ heart is in the right place,” he said. “More importantly, most of our people are apparently aware of, and truly appreciate, his good intentions, as reflected in the increasing number of public opinion polls pointing to the President’s high trust and approval ratings.
The President issued Executive Order (EO) 10 last Dec. 29 extending for a year the temporary modification or reduced import tariff rates on pork meat (whether fresh, chilled or frozen), rice, corn and coal until Dec. 31, 2023, to alleviate the impact of inflationary pressures resulting from the continued Ukraine-Russia crisis, expand supply sources, and reduce the cost of key commodities.
As endorsed by the Committee on Tariff and Related Matters (CTRM) of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), the issuance of the EO was approved by the NEDA Board during its recent meeting presided over by President Marcos, who is Board chairman.
Villafuerte said that as pointed out by Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan after the NEDA Board meeting, the lower tariff rates would enable the government to augment our domestic food supplies, diversify our sources of food staples, and temper inflationary pressures arising from supply constraints and rising international prices of production inputs due to external conflict.
The congressman and former Camarines Sur governor said that inflation has generally remained on the high side since last year—even hitting 14-year highs in the last quarter—owing in large part to non-domestic factors such as spiraling petroleum prices in the world market, logistics jams or commodity supply disruptions largely caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the lingering Covid-19 pandemic.
EO 10 kept the reduced import duties at 15% (in-quota) and 25% (out-quota) for fresh, chilled or frozen swine meat; 5% (in-quota) and 15% (out-quota) for corn; 35% (both in-quota and out-quota) for rice; and zero for coal.
Under the EO, the original or higher import duties for pork meat, rice and corn shall return after Dec. 31, 2023, while the zero rate on coal shall remain beyond end-December.
Thanks to mostly imported elevated inflation, the pace of commodity price increases quickened to 8.1% last December—the fastest in 14 years since the 9.1% print in November 2008, and the ninth consecutive month that inflation breached the 2%-4% target range set by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) traced the accelerated inflation to the 10.2% spike in the year-on-year (YOY) prices of food items and non-alcoholic beverages.
Independent analysts see inflation remaining high at least for the first few months of 2023, with the projected spike in water and electricity rates likely to raise supply-side inflation.
Villafuerte is optimistic, though, that despite the economic challenges at the onset of 2023, the President and his economic managers could meet the country’s growth target of 6% to 7% for the full-year of 2023 amid positive tailwinds in the months ahead, such as increasing remittances from overseas Filipinos, receding global oil prices, easing of tight monetary policies, and the projected reopening of the Chinese economy.
According to EO 10, “The current global economic situation brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as other factors affecting the country’s traditional sources of rice, corn, coal, and fresh, chilled or frozen meat of swine, cause uncertainty in the steady supply of said commodities.”
“The high inflation caused by supply constraints, expected shortage in the global supply and rise in international commodity prices present economic and trade implications to the country and the Filipino people,” stated EO 10.
Malacañang Palace at the same time released through the Office of the President (OP) a memorandum signed by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin ordering PhilHealth to put off the scheduled increase this year in premiums to 4.5% (from the current 4%) and in income ceiling to P90,000 (from P80,000), as set in Republic Act (RA) 11223 or the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act.
In issuing this stay order, the Palace said in the memo that President Marcos ordered PhilHealth to suspend the increases set by RA 11223 for 2023, “in light of the prevailing socioeconomic challenges brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, and to provide financial relief to our countrymen amidst these difficult times.”
This UHC law provided for annual increases in increments of 0.5% from the premium rate of 3% in 2020 until it reaches 5% in 2025.
Villafuerte commended the PhilHealth Board for going ahead, despite the rate hike suspension, on the planned rollout this year of the additional benefits that the RA 11223-prescribed premium increase in 2023 was supposed to bankroll, including the outpatient therapeutic care for severe acute malnutrition, outpatient package for mental health, and comprehensive outpatient benefit package.
He noted that in the latest nationwide survey by Social Weather Stations (SWS) done from Dec. 10 to 14 and released last Dec. 30, 95% of Filipinos said they would welcome 2023 “with hope rather than fear,” or two percentage points higher than the 93% of its respondents who said the same in 2021.
Pulse Asia, in its Nov. 27-Dec. 1 polling, reported that 92% of its 1,200 respondents said they were facing 2023 with hope.
In its non-commissioned Pulso ng Pilipino survey done from Dec. 5 to Dec. 12, The Issues and Advocacy Center (The Center) said the President garnered a net trust rating of 81%, and was highly favored by 93% from the poorest “E” bracket, 89% from the “D” sector, and 84% from the upper to middle income group.
As for performance, The Center’s respondents gave President Marcos a satisfaction rating of 78%.
Previously released public opinion polls also gave high scores to President Marcos, who saw a rise in his approval rating to 64% in the fourth quarter survey (Nov. 25-30) by Publicus Asia Inc..
Publicus Asia likewise said its survey of 1,500 respondents showed that at least 68% were optimistic that the country was going in the right direction under the Marcos government.
OCTA Group’s TNM survey of 1,200 respondents nationwide from Oct. 23 to Oct. 27 said Mr. Marcos attained a trust rating of 86% and performance rating of 78%.
In the same fourth-quarter poll, OCTA Research said a higher 85% of its respondents felt the Philippines was heading in the right direction on the Marcos watch, with as high as 91% in the Visayas believing the President was steering the country well.
The RP-Mission and Development Foundation Inc. (RPMD), meanwhile, said its Nov. 3-10 survey said that 70% of its respondents approved of the President’s performance.
In its Nov. 27-Dec. 1 polling, Pulse Asia noted that 92% of its 1,200 respondents said they were facing the new year with hope.
Villafuerte said earlier that President Marcos’ decisive initiatives on easing Covid-19 protocols and reopening the country to tourists and investors in late 2022 has begun generating more foreign direct investments (FDIs) and putting our economy on the mend, “hence keeping it on its upward trajectory this 2023 despite an impending global recession.”
“The most remarkable feat of President Marcos thus far comprise his decisive moves on the public health and economic fronts that sent a loud and clear message to the world that the Philippines has reopened fully for business on his watch despite the lingering Covid-19 pandemic,” Villafuerte said.
“Complementing such initiatives,” added Villafuerte, “were the President’s aggressive pitch in his overseas trips for the Philippines as an Asian business hub with investor-friendly policies plus a young and dynamic labor force, leading to a whopping over $23.6 billion-worth of investment pledges that will for sure energize domestic economic activity in 2023, create a lot of jobs and improve the living standards of many of our people.”
Villafuerte is confident that the Marcos administration can keep the Philippines on high-growth mode in 2023 and onwards partly because of the President’s apt decision to sustain the unprecedented level of mega investments of the past administration in public infrastructure, “considering that infra spending has the highest multiplier effect on the economy.”
Citing a Department of Budget and Management (DBM) report, Villafuerte said the Marcos government had allocated an amount equivalent to 5% to 6% of GDP to spending on infrastructure and other capital outlay projects.
Proof of the continued high infra spending under the Marcos administration was that completed infrastructure projects went up by 39.3% in September alone as National Government (NG) expenditures for this sector plus other capital outlay projects rose to P99.1 billion in September from the year-ago’s P71.2-billion disbursements.
Villafuerte pointed out that, “The Chief Executive’s bold one-two move to issue EO 3 lifting the mandatory use of face masks outdoors and, later, EO 7 relaxing the masking mandate indoors along with easing the Covid-19 tests and other strict health protocols for inbound travelers had delivered the message that the Philippines was back in business after reopening its doors wide to tourists and investors alike.”
“The President told the world with his bold moves that the Philippines has already marched on from the almost three-year pandemic and is raring to speed up our economy’s return to its pre-Covid high upward trajectory,” Villafuerte said.
As a complementary step, he said, “Mr. Marcos has transformed himself into the country’s topmost salesman in his overseas trips over the July-December period by making a consistent, vigorous pitch for investments.”
Estimates by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and private analysts have put our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth at 6% to 7% this year, on the back of sustained domestic consumption and investments.
The President’s feats on the economic and health fronts have already paid off this early in his presidency, with a steady climb in tourist arrivals and tourism revenue, a surge in investment pledges, and positive forecasts from international and local institutions and analysts pointing to our continued robust economic growth this 2023, against the backdrop of lower growth in Southeast Asia and other parts of the world in the face of a looming global recession.”
What has enabled the Chief Executive to make such a strong and convincing push for FDIs abroad, said Villafuerte, was his correct move right from the start of his presidency to assemble a team of economic managers from among the country’s internationally renowned economist-technocrats led by former Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) governor and ex-budget secretary Benjamin Diokno, who now heads the Department of Finance (DOF).
The President’s other economic managers include BSP Governor Felipe Medalla, NEDA Director-General Arsenio Balisacan Trade and Industry Secretary Alfredo Pascual.
Villafuerte said: “The President’s feats on the economic and health fronts have already paid off this early in his presidency, with a steady climb in tourist arrivals and tourism revenue, a surge in investment pledges, and positive forecasts from international and local institutions and analysts pointing to our continued robust economic growth this 2023, against the backdrop of lower growth in Southeast Asia and other parts of the world in the face of a looming global recession.”
He said the Department of Education (DepEd) helped President Marcos return the country to post-pandemic normalcy with Vice President and Secretary Sara Duterte-Carpio’s decision for the DepEd to restore mandatory in-person classes in public schools beginning last November.
As a result of the relaxed Covid-19 health protocols, Villafuerte said the Department of Tourism (DOT) reported that the number of visitor arrivals soared to 2.46 million by November 2022, or nearly 45% higher than the original target of 1.7 million, from just 164,000 international visitors in 2021.
Tourism receipts consequently went up to P149 billion from the 2.46 million tourists, hence living up to the Chief Executive’s perception—as he mentioned in his speech before the Philippine Tourism Industry Convergence Reception (PTICR) at the SMX Convention Center last October—of this industry becoming one of the potential drivers of the country’s economic transformation under his presidency.
Villafuerte had called for the lifting of the outdoor masking rule in September as well as the voluntary indoor masking and, later, the removal of stringent entry requirements for inbound international travelers, before President Marcos approved the consecutive recommendations by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) on the easing of such health protocols mean to slow the spread of the virus.
Prior to the issuance of EOs 3 and 7, Villafuerte had said that the easing of anti-Covid health protocols “would attract more tourists and boost Philippine tourism, which is integral to the country’s quick and robust recovery from the global economic and health crises wrought by the once-in-a-century pandemic.”
He said: “Rather than just playing catch-up to its Asian peers whose respective tourism industries have already started on strong-recovery mode, the Philippines, with its far better tourist attractions than those of its neighbors, could actually overtake its direct competitors in the region by doing away with its stringent travel curbs that have impelled most tourists to instead visit—and spend their money in—countries that have relaxed, if not jettisoned altogether, their Covid-related health and border entry protocols.
