We swim or sink together under my dev’t plan, GMA says

Either we sink or swim.

President Arroyo aired this caution yesterday as she rallied support for her administration’s six-year Medium Term Development Plan (MTDP) as the "blueprint" to create new wealth in the country.

"The blueprint for economic development is now laid down in clear and concrete terms," the President said in a statement. "This (MTDP) is our last chance, and we must swim together or (we all) sink together."

Mrs. Arroyo also directed her appeals to her critics and political adversaries as she continues to rally her supporters and allies in Congress, government, business and other sectors to stand squarely behind her newly launched MTDP.

"Doomsayers and vested interests will be ever present to deter our efforts and push back the clock of reform and progress," she said. "But we must resist, forge on and stay on course."

The five-part MTDP was earlier praised by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) as a "wonderful platform for development." It was presented to the media last Monday by National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) director- general Romulo Neri, who is also the President’s socio-economic planning secretary.

UNDP officials, however, raised concerns over the Philippines’ financing the plan as the country remains burdened by poor revenue generation compounded by high public spending.

The five components of the MTDP, according to Neri, spell out the specific projects and programs to be undertaken by the Arroyo administration in the next six years to achieve a sustained economic growth for the country’s more than 80 million people.

"We are now in an inexorable course towards greater national stability and prosperity. But the government cannot do this alone," the President said. "It will require sacrifice and supreme acts of service and supreme efforts at honest enterprise on the part of every institution and citizen."

The NEDA chief disclosed Mrs. Arroyo intends to submit the MTDP to Congress to get support.

"We will submit this to Congress. It would be good for Congress to pass a resolution endorsing the plan. I think that’s what we aim to do," he said.

In the "soft launch" of the MTDP in Malacañang, Neri boldly predicted that the administration’s targets could achieve its goals if the economy is opened up to foreign investors by amending "prohibitive" provisions in the 1987 Constitution.

The MTDP is neither ambitious nor unrealistic, he said, noting it reflects the determination of the President to cut by half the country’s 34 percent poverty incidence by the end of her term in 2010.

"The most challenging is the creation of six to ten million jobs but I think we can do it if we really focus on the right things. If we can do that, we can resolve poverty," Neri said.

"And of course, good policies will help because job creation is a function of investors’ confidence," he added.

The President christened her MTDP as "beat-the-odds," which is actually the acronym of the first letters of Mrs. Arroyo’s 10-point legacy: balanced budget, education for all, automated elections, transport all over the country, termination of the conflicts with all rebel groups, healing the wounds of EDSA 1, 2 and 3, electricity all over the country, opportunities for employment, decentralize development, decongest Metro Manila, Subic/ Clark as logistics hubs.

"It’s what we call as a fighting target," Neri said.

By definition, he said, a family of six whose monthly income falls short of P16,000 is considered living below the poverty line in Metro Manila, while the threshold income in areas outside the metropolis is around P10,000 to P12,000 a month.

"If you fall below that (threshold income), you’re poor," Neri said.

He said all government agencies, their respective strategies and activities would have to be gauged in their abilities to create jobs for the President’s six to 10 million jobs target.