Yasay blames ‘economic terrorism’ for poverty, business problems

"Economic terrorism has wreaked havoc on our program to attract investments and encourage local businesses to invest in expansion and modernization programs," according to Perfecto R. Yasay Jr., former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

He described "economic terrorists" as people inside and outside government, including unscrupulous businessmen and investors themselves, who continue to sabotage the country’s privatization and liberalization programs, attack legitimate investors and industry players, and continually poison the investment climate in the Philippines. "These terrorists also undermine our laws intended to encourage and promote an economic environment conducive to growth," he said.

"They act like mercenaries hurling destructive criticisms, underpinned by bankrupt solutions. No better are politicians who mislead the people with their populist antics calculated to gain media mileage and win votes," Yasay said.

These detractors are throwing every conceivable obstacle toward any attempt to privatize debt-ridden government corporations responsible for the ballooning deficit. This deficit, in turn, eats up government’s dwindling resources urgently needed to fund basic services such as health, education, and mass housing. "Allowing them to distract us from our real growth agenda will deprive us of vital ammunition in what should be our unrelenting war against poverty," Yasay said.

He asked: "What do you call these groups that create fear and uncertainty among investors and thus sabotage the investment climate? The country needs an investment climate that creates jobs. This is the only way to improve the quality of our people’s lives and enables them to realize their dreams," Yasay added. "We call these saboteurs ‘economic terrorists’."

Industry players are easy targets of these ruthless critics when they hit at will the very heart of business viability. These are selfishly motivated investors and businessmen who think that the country is desperate for funds so they come in and invest. "But they blatantly violate our laws and maximize their profits with the help of corrupt public officials. Eventually they add more to our people’s sufferings by further retarding our economic growth," he said.

The economy is not growing at all, Yasay noted. The gross national product (GNP) has exhibited some growth, "but these are largely from blood, sweat, toil and tears" of our overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who precisely are leaving country and family for jobs abroad, because these jobs are not available here. Worse, the real measure of growth, gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, is lower than what it was 20 years ago.

Foreign direct investments (FDIs), he said, went down by 73 percent in the second semester of this year, compared to the same period last year. "About 28 percent of our people are living below the poverty line. Today, 12 percent of our total labor force is unemployed, while 18 percent are under-employed," he pointed out.

"When big companies pack their bags to go elsewhere; when no new companies come to set up operations; when the Philippines becomes a wasteland, because it has no jobs to offer our growing population of unemployed and under-employed; and when many of our people suffer and die in grinding poverty because industrial output is down, isn’t this terrorism on our economy?" he asked.

"Equally guilty are corrupt investors who conspire with government officials in violating, if not undermining, our laws designed to level the playing field for everyone. These investors promote their own selfish interests and maximize their profits at the expense of the people," he said.