EDITORIAL - New year, old challenges

The year is starting with the people stuck with the funding priorities of Congress: hefty budget cuts for health, education, agriculture, de-politicized social welfare programs, and even the military modernization program for external defense in the West Philippine Sea.

In contrast, senators and congressmen gave themselves substantial funding increases apart from higher allocations for their pork barrel under the unprogrammed appropriations. They also allocated earmarking privileges for what is supposed to be social welfare programs in which they have no say. The 2025 national outlay has been described as a patronage budget, meant to use taxpayers’ money to finance politicians’ election campaigns.

Instead of impounding public funds for self-aggrandizement, the political leadership must wean the masses from reliance on dole-outs and empower them for self-advancement through quality education and sufficient health care.

The controversy over the national budget highlights the importance of picking persons of integrity and competence in the upcoming elections in May, apart from ensuring that the polls will be clean and will not be marred by allegations of cheating using an unauthorized IP address.

In this election year, the battle against fake news, disinformation and other online malicious content must be waged with greater vigor and resources. Artificial intelligence can facilitate these activities.

AI also threatens jobs and livelihoods – a continuing concern for most Filipinos, as consistently shown in reputable surveys. This year there must be greater effort not only to minimize job displacements arising from AI, but also to make the new technology work to create new employment and livelihood opportunities.

Creating decent jobs and livelihoods must go hand-in-hand with serious efforts to arrest the slide in the quality of education and national competitiveness. The education sector is in crisis. Unless properly addressed, it could soon turn the country into Asia’s basket case.

Another top public concern is inflation, which continues to be fueled by high food prices. The government will have to do more to address this problem, and not just by flooding the country with imported goods, but also carrying out a more aggressive campaign to boost domestic agricultural production.

The year just past once again showed the risks posed by increasing incidents of extreme weather. Apart from implementing more climate change mitigation measures, national and local governments must ensure that funds for flood control are used judiciously and strictly for their intended purposes.

Political tumult in 2024 will continue this year. Active efforts must be made so that it will have positive consequences on national life instead of projecting instability that may spook investors and travelers. What doesn’t kill the country should make it strong, and Filipinos have time and time again shown that kind of resilience.

A joyous and prosperous New Year to everyone!