Hard times

Our reality today is simple: our country is in deep doodoo. The numbers are clearly warning us. GDP is a pathetic 2.8 percent while inflation is a raging 7.2 percent.

“Inflation is expected to climb further, possibly into double digits in the fourth quarter…,” BPI lead economist Emilio Neri Jr. wrote in a May 5 commentary.

There are many explanations or excuses why our economy is doing so badly. Immediate causes: rising inflation due to a global energy shock, lingering effects of a major flood control corruption scandal and delays in the 2026 national budget.

But there are also long festering problems with the way we run our government. Most of those are bad practices that doom us to a continuing inability to properly respond to the challenges we face.

Personally, I do not see any light at the end of this dark tunnel unless we successfully force our officials to clean up their act.

It must start with a total revision of our Constitution to take into account the difficulty of enforcing accountability among Filipino public officials. It is a lot easier to kick out badly performing officials in a parliamentary system by a simple vote of no confidence.

There is no more shame left among our public officials. There may be a Vico and a Leni here and there but not enough of their kind to assure us our problems and needs will be addressed with no budgetary leakage.

Our current officials are either afraid to challenge the status quo or are happily enjoying its fruits. We are also fed excuses for our failures.

Take agriculture. It declined again in the first quarter by 0.2 percent. They are blaming it on El Niño even as farmers have long been crying out for the government to do something beyond press releases about the logistics of moving produce to market.

As a result, food inflation will be a continuing big challenge. Agricultural output declined in the first quarter, largely on account of rice (-6.3 percent) as well as fishing and aquaculture (-5.0 percent).

Rice price inflation rose further to 13.7 percent, reversing the price decline of 10.9 percent in the same month last year. The double-digit rice price inflation contributed one percentage point to the headline figure for the month.

As of April 2026, food inflation surged to 6.1 percent, while for the bottom 30 percent of households it was a much higher 8.5 percent. Food inflation hits most of our people badly because about 60 percent of their family budgets are spent on food.

The most recent Social Weather Stations survey data shows that involuntary hunger (being hungry and having nothing to eat) affected 20.1 percent of Filipino families (roughly 5.4 million households) in the last quarter of 2025. It may be higher now.

If we continue along the path we are currently on, the next few months will find us in an even more dire situation as geopolitical challenges impact our economy.

Goldman Sachs analysts wrote that supplies of jet fuel, LPG and other refined products are poised to fall off the cliff in Asia, Africa and Europe as stored inventories are used. Prices will be higher too.

According to BMI, a Fitch Solutions unit: “Risks are tilted to the downside. It is increasingly likely that the US-Iran war will extend beyond our Mid-May baseline, keeping oil prices higher for longer and posing further growth headwinds.”

Happening along with all these economic pressures are political battles, from the impeachment of the vice president and the prosecution of political leaders implicated in the corruption-plagued flood control projects.

There will be a strong cry for blood, for heads to roll, but it is doubtful our political and judicial system can deliver. Already angry and hungry because of a tanking economy and high inflation, we have a potentially lethal brew that will make us live dangerously for the rest of the year.

How well can we weather the storm?

It depends on whether our economic elite transfers its wealth abroad for safety or if they are ready to use part of that to help the masa survive.

The folks who became billionaires because of online gambling should be the first to give back to the victims of their addictive products. The vast majority of players come from lower-income groups who shifted from jueteng but can ill afford to gamble.

There are stories of fathers unable to feed their families after losing and even getting into heavy debt because fintech (e-wallets) makes it so easy to gamble online. Surely, there must be a special hot place in hell for those who make an unconscionable amount of money exploiting the poor.

Luke 12:16-21 is a parable about a rich man who was celebrating his good fortune. “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Who then will benefit from all the wealth you have accumulated for yourself?’”

Jesus used the parable to warn against greed and chasing after material wealth as an end in itself. Wealth is useless in the face of death or divine judgment.

Life is short and even online gambling moguls can die anytime. Maybe they can buy insurance for the afterlife by feeding the hungry people whose addiction they heartlessly exploited to make their billions.

Other folks like Tessie of SM and Robina of Robinsons can pull resources to help farmers with the logistics of bringing produce to their supermarkets. Ramon Ang can expand his feeding program to cover more depressed areas.

The Ayalas, the Camposes of Unilab and the Ques of Mercury Drug can put up free clinics to attend to the health needs of the poor.

We shouldn’t wait for our government to get its act together. Eternity will come sooner. We are all on a sinking ship. And you have to be a truly despicable rat to bail out or do nothing.

Boo Chanco’s email address is [email protected]. Follow him on X @boochanco