TOP Philippine economists have outlined key economic reforms and emphasized the importance of public-private partnerships and the choice of competent leaders as critical to sustaining post-pandemic economic recovery.
The 6th Pilipinas Conference 2021 online sessions of the Stratbase Albert del Rosario Institute (ADRi) featured former NEDA Socioeconomic Planning secretary Dr. Ernesto Pernia, former Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas deputy governor Diwa Guinigundo, Dr. Vicente Paqueo of Stratbase ADR Institute, Dr. Raul Fabella of the UP School of Economics, and Stratbase ADRi president professor Dindo Manhit, among others.
In his keynote address, Pernia said that “sustaining economic recovery post-pandemic requires that we know what were the antecedents in terms of the health system capacity, both human infrastructure and social infrastructure, and what were the amounts of spending, the timing and the allocation of COVID-19 response spending by the government.”
Pernia expressed the hope that the next president will be “sufficiently intelligent, competent, insightful and foresightful, an integer — meaning a whole and not a broken and corrupted leader — and has the country and people’s welfare at heart.”
Guinigundo raised the need for massive investments from both government and the private sector that can open in periods of stress, address healthcare deficiencies, and boost economic transition for the post-pandemic world and the digital economy.
Paqueo noted that labor market regulations in the Philippines are too restrictive and burdensome compared to its peers and competitors and proposed a systematic review of the Labor Code together with a social contract to reform labor laws, regulations and policies.
Fabella cited how the Philippine investment rate has historically lagged behind at a rate of 20-24% and even went down to 19% compared to neighboring economies which have stayed at 30-40%.
“Either we Filipinos have little regard for our and our children’s future, or we envision our children making their future in some other locality not in the Philippines. Or the rule of law is so bad that we don’t want to go into long term investments because we may never see the fruits of those investments,” Fabella said.
