ECOP: Philippines on the way to economic recovery

What crisis?

The country is on its way to economic recovery, the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) said yesterday.

Belying earlier reports that the Philippines is in a crisis, ECOP president Donald Dee said all indicators for a steady economic recovery have been established, including a stable peso, lower inflation rate, improving weather conditions conducive to agriculture growth and continued strong performance of the export sector.

"As the economy springs back to life, demand and production of goods and services will increase. More businesses and jobs will be created," Dee said.

He warned that talk of a financial crisis would merely scare away investors since such stories generate negative impressions of the business environment.

"The public must read correctly the signals in the Philippine economy. Although there are signs of difficulties, there is enough consensus that the economy will not be bad this year," he said.

However, he warned Filipino businessmen against complacency. "What employers will have to watch more closely are developments in this region and other parts of the globe," Dee said.

He added that pressures from global competition will continue to create tensions in labor-management relations, and that "all stakeholders like trade unions, government and the employers will have to stress their transformative roles in industrial relations."

"With President Estrada's eagerness to renew investor confidence, we can foresee the Philippine economy will emerge as one of the most robust in the East Asian region," Dee said.

DAVAO CITY -- There's no crisis but merely "missed opportunities," Speaker Manuel Villar said yesterday.

"Crisis is a very relative word," he said. "Missed opportunities only because once you say `crisis,' it is too much already. And that is not what is happening."

Davao City Rep. Rodrigo Duterte defined "missed opportunities" as times when investors are ready to bring in their resources but decide to hold back because of certain developments.

He lashed out at certain pressure groups for making it appear that the administration is a wayward train that can't decide on its exact destination.

"You have this pressure coming from the political, business and religious sectors who cannot accept Mr. Estrada as President, and they really want him out," he said.

Villar said people should believe recent economic indicators showing the country doing well rather than the impression that the country is in crisis.

"The figures are very clear," he said. "The statistics show that we now have a very low inflation rate and one of the lowest interest rates of all times. Besides, our gross domestic product has also increased, indicating that we are not in a crisis."

He also disputed the claim of Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin that the administration has no direction in formulating policy for effective governance.

"It is not true," he said. "There is a direction. Unfortunately, that direction is not what everybody wants. The government has a very clear picture of where it is going. It is toward an economy that is driven by free-market forces."

Duterte advised the President to ignore criticisms and to continue doing his job by implementing laws and getting his projects done.

"If I were the President, I would ignore all those criticisms," he said."I just have to go on working."

Villar said the House of Representatives continues to support President Estrada despite the mounting criticisms against his administration.

Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile took up the cudgels for President Estrada yesterday, charging that the President's critics have been peddling "too much negativism" that merely demoralizes the people.

Enrile lamented that critics kept attacking Mr. Estrada but could not offer appropriate solutions to the country's economic problems.

While he did not name names, he was apparently referring to Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin who said last week that the Estrada administration is "seemingly" without direction.

In his weekly radio program with Sen. Juan Flavier, Enrile said there is nothing wrong in criticizing the government, but warned that too much "negativism" is bad for the country and could demoralize the people.

"Perhaps if they (critics) were in the President's place, they might even be worse," Enrile said.

In another development, Enrile said the government has been losing at least P80 million a day or roughly P24 billion a year in uncollected alcohol taxes.

Enrile, who chairs the Senate ways and means committee, said in the same radio program that the distillers do not report to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) their correct daily output as basis for computation of their taxes.

"That could be the reason why distillers are now so rich they can afford to buy banks and other companies. Imagine P80 million a day," Enrile said.

He pointed out that while the BIR has assigned one revenue agent to each distillery plant, these agents merely work in cahoots with the distillers to cheat the government.

"Out of a production of 100,000 liters, the agents usually report only 60,000 liters," Enrile noted.

He urged the BIR to closely monitor the distillers' production to ensure that they collect the right amount of taxes.

He also expressed support for a measure filed by Rep. Danilo Suarez, seeking the imposition of higher taxes on "sin" products such as beer, cigarettes and liquor.

Enrile said Suarez's bill complements a measure filed by Flavier mandating a nationwide ban on smoking.

Meanwhile, Enrile said more studies must be made on the impact of the ban on the tobacco industry in Northern Luzon, which he said is a major source of livelihood in the region.

"We must conduct a further study on this measure to ensure that the interest of the tobacco farmers are protected," Enrile said. -- By Edith Regalado, Perseus Echeminada