"The very low ranking of the Philippines in global competitiveness was due to the small budget allotted for education and health services," the Demokratiko Sosyalista Kabataan ng Pilipinas (DSKP) said in a statement.
Its spokesman, Michael Eric Castillo, said the Arroyo administration should allocate more funds into these two sectors as well as in infrastructure.
Castillo said manpower and infrastructure are important factors to attract investments, as incentives to investors only play a secondary role.
He said companies are more likely to invest in countries that can offer an efficient and healthy workforce.
Castillo noted that in secondary education, the Philippines ranked 58th in pupil-teacher ratio, 56th in primary education, and 60th in total health expenditure worldwide. He did not cite the source of the statistics.
"It is therefore important that the government spend more on education, health and infrastructure," he stressed.
The youth leader said that by rationalizing the investment incentive system, the government could generate as much as P40 billion in revenues annually. Thus, the government would have additional funds for the Department of Education (DepEd), Department of Health (DOH) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).
Based on the study conducted by the University of the Philippines’ School of Economics, the government loses hundreds of billions of pesos a year from investment incentives being given by the Investment Promotions Agencies in the Philippines.
These include incentives being granted by the Bureau of Investments (BOI), which could amount to P40 billion, the group said.
"The investment system failed to attract foreign investors, defeating the government’s plan to disperse industries and create jobs in the countryside," Castillo said.
The study also revealed that most of the incentives given by the BOI and special economic zones are redundant.
Castillo said the country could better lure investments if more resources are allotted to enhance the quality of education.
The DSKP earlier called for the DepEd to institute reforms that would address education-employment mismatch and develop manpower for industrialization. — Sandy Araneta