Government agencies mobilized for economic plan

President Arroyo has mobilized all concerned government agencies to meet the timetable of six to nine months within which to synchronize the country’s recovery with that of the global economy.

Presidential Spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao said yesterday the Presidential Management Staff (PMS) and the Makati Business Club (MBC) have agreed to jointly monitor the commitments under a pact forged in Monday’s National Socio-Economic Summit.

"This means that within two weeks we should already be seeing the results of what was agreed upon in the summit," Tiglao said.

The pact included initiatives to improve peace and security, increase tax collections, pass legislation to reform the financial sector, increase agricultural productivity, improve foreign investment incentives, increase tourism revenues, promote information and communications technology and reduce infrastructure bottlenecks.

Tiglao clarified that the commitments do not require any additional funding or budget.

"This means they have to forgo some expenses elsewhere. They will have to concentrate on what was agreed upon in the summit," he said.

In a related development, members of an alliance of several mass-based organizations yesterday branded as "ill-timed and futile" the administration-initiated National Socio-Economic Summit.

Ang Bagong Katipunan branded Monday’s economic summit as "a sham which at best reflects the bankruptcy of ideas of the Arroyo administration in dealing with the nation’s economic problems."

The group’s national chairman Glicerio Gervero said the summit obviously failed to achieve its real goal, which is to produce new approaches in addressing the present economic woes of the country.

"The summit was nothing but a lot of quacking over known problems which has long existed in Philippine politics and society," Gervero said.

He stressed that an economic summit right now only serves as an "icing in a spoiled cake" which tends to divert the masses from the more pressing issues and real problems confronting them."To be able to take up a wide range of problems in one sitting is already a big joke. And that is what last Monday’s summit is all about," Gervero said.