FPGMA keeping busy

What has the former president been doing to keep busy? Spy Bits received a text message from a close associate of former president and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Arroyo informing us about a paper written by GMA on the economy of the Philippines. The paper will be delivered at the Manila Hotel today by former UP economics professor Gonzalo Jurado who, incidentally, is a former mentor of GMA and was a co-author of “Beat the Odds,” a book detailing the economic accomplishments of the Arroyo administration – primarily on keeping the country afloat despite a series of crises and disasters during GMA’s tenure. Jurado (who holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Wisconsin and is currently the VP for Finance and Development of the Kalayaan College in Marikina) will probably conduct the discussion following the delivery since GMA will not be able to do it herself for obvious reasons.

The former president started writing the paper while she was in the hospital recovering from the series of spinal surgeries she underwent. Some sectors have been complaining that the country’s economy has not done so well since the advent of the new administration, and one can only surmise GMA’s take on the current state of the country’s economy considering that under her watch, the country was said to have experienced 37 consecutive quarters of economic growth. 

Results of a recent survey by Pulse Asia also disclosed that nearly four out of 10 Filipinos think the economy in 2011 has gone worse compared to 2010 – prompting Malacañang to describe the results simply as a “snapshot” of the people’s sentiment at the time the survey was being conducted. Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima disputed the survey results, saying that on the contrary, the economy is healthy and growing – a sentiment echoed by foreign economic analysts and experts. Purisima (who was named the 2011 Finance Minister of the Year for Asia by a London-based magazine affiliated with Euromoney) cited the strong remittances from overseas Filipino workers and the resilience of the Business Process Outsourcing sector as among the positive indicators, saying that 2012 will be better than last year. 

Negative New Year surprises

The New Year has just started with the infuriating noise from firecrackers supposed to be effective in warding off bad spirits, but it seems the people may have to brace themselves for some rough times ahead as gleaned from negative news that’s been coming out. One of them is the petition to increase (again!) toll rates by the operators of Star Tollway, Coastal Road and the Subic Clark Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx) – a headache-inducing issue that has greeted newly-installed Toll Regulatory Board chief Edmund Reyes, a former congressman of Marinduque. 

A 19-percent toll increase is being proposed for the 90-plus kilometer SCTEx which means Class 1 users will have to shell out P289 from Tipo to Subic, Clark or Tarlac or a P46 increase from the current P243. Meanwhile, the operator for the 6.5-kilometer Manila-Cavite expressway is asking for a 17-percent increase from P24 to P29 for car owners. Star Tollway on the other hand wants to increase rates from P67 to P72 for Class 1 vehicles or an equivalent of seven percent. Needless to say, Class 2 and Class 3 vehicles will have to shoulder enormous toll fees which could probably drive the prices of commodities up.

Coupled with the incessant oil price hikes (and the threat of gas rationing) being attributed to the current unrest in the Middle East, and the impending petition by bus and jeepney operators to raise the minimum fare from P8 to P10, it won’t be surprising if the labor sector will also start agitating for salary increases sooner than soon. 

Despite growing perception that government is concentrating more on the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona, Malacañang is emphatic that its focus will be on the economy. We will not be distracted, Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda has earlier stated. We can only hope so.

Pinoys just wanna have fun

While the reception has been initially negative for the new DOT campaign slogan with accusations that it was originally used by the Swiss in 1951, it seems that the tide is gradually turning judging from the spate of positive reactions via Facebook and other social media sites. Filipinos can be cynical and merciless if they think they are being made fools of, but once they warm up to an idea, they have the capacity to embrace and support it. No question that Filipinos are also one of the most creative and yes, fun loving people on earth, and the “It’s more fun in the Philippines” campaign has definitely triggered their creative juices with funny and amusing spins on the slogan, among them an “angry birds” version featuring the barrel-covered wooden Igorot figure – a naughty souvenir from Baguio.

There are however still so many people who think that a more appropriate slogan would have been “Only in the Philippines” as originally suggested by marketing man Willy Arcilla and our late friend Max’s brother, Willy Soliven. After all, the phrase is already popular and has become widespread even among foreigners. It’s simple, it’s an “original” and it certainly captures the uniqueness of the Filipino character, not to mention other one-of-a-kind features attributed to the Philippines. Anyway, some tourism industry observers are not discounting the possibility that the tagline “Only in the Philippines” might still be used sometime in the future.

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