What people know can't hurt them

Budget Secretary Romulo Neri, in a recent speech, insisted that foreign investors have regained their confidence in the Philippines despite the political crisis spawned by allegations of vote fraud and corruption against President Arroyo.

Perhaps Neri was just being optimistic about his new job, as always happens with grateful new appointees. Unfortunately, with proof of the pudding indubitably being always in the eating, Neri failed miserably to provide anyone a taste of the figures that would prove his contention.

The truth of the matter is, there is hardly any new investments that Neri can speak of. And of course that is not good. What Filipino would not have preferred to hear of direct foreign investments pouring in to shore up our flagging economy.

But that has not been happening, and not just because of the political crisis hounding Arroyo. For a long while already, direct foreign investments that have actually come in have not matched our most wishful longing.

And that is because there is little to be confident about the Philippines in a strictly business sense. For too long, the country has not pursued any real direction that would inspire confidence not just among locals but also foreigners seeking a toehold on our shores.

To be sure, there are vast business opportunities in the Philippines. A country with more than 80 million people cannot be considered otherwise but a vast potential market. But realizing the existence of a market and being confident enough to invest in it are two different things.

Investors do not just look at the number of people but, more importantly, assess the danger of these people turning into a sufficiently agitated mob that will not hesitate to loot and burn.

Thus, it is bad enough that Filipinos already know how dire the economic situation is on the ground without having to be lied about it by officials too eager to espouse official lines that do not tell the exact truth.

If our government officials really know how to inspire Filipinos and boost their confidence, it is by shutting up, buckling down, and get the hard work of making the economy function and rebound done.

Officials should surprise everyone not just by their silence but by the evidence of work done. Filipinos long agonizing under the harshest of economic conditions will only be convinced of a dramatic turnaround by the contents of their pockets.

Short of that, nothing that any official can say by way of the most colorful and interesting verbal calisthenics will convince the average Filipino that his lot is any better than it had ever been.

Filipinos resent being told things they cannot feel for themselves. They may be poor and they may be ill-educated, but life has taught them well enough not to be taken in for any other truth than that which is palpable.

Neri is lucky that he still has a job in the Arroyo Cabinet. That means the president still has confidence in him even if the president herself inspires confidence in the people less and less.

If Neri deserves that confidence, he should not start with his new job saying things that run contrary to conventional wisdom. Truths that are unfelt or are incapable of being proved where they matter most are regarded as outright lies.

In they end, they are counted against the president from who Neri owes his job. In other words, unrealistic optimism can indirectly undermine the president and her ability to rule. Better to tell it straight. What people already know can't hurt them anymore.