Focus

The 2024 national budget was prepared on time and basically suits the requirements of regime maintenance. However, expenditures will outstrip revenues in the coming year by about P2 trillion.

At the rate things are going, the Marcos II administration is en route to incurring more debt than any previous administration. The next generation will have to shoulder the highest debt service ever. That is a chilling thought, although nobody seems to care.

Congress added more expenditure in the new budget than what the administration proposed. But there has been no outcry. Everybody benefits from generous state spending in the short term. The ballooning debt burden is for the next generation to worry about.

In fact, there was very little public debate relating to the crafting of next year’s budget – except for that largely contrived controversy over intelligence funds. There has been little commentary on how the new budget may solve the truly crippling problems the nation confronts.

There has been little discussion, for instance, on how the budget may help solve the serious learning deficit that will harm the next generation’s ability to thrive in a competitive world. We spend only a tenth of the global per capita average on education. As a result, in survey after survey, our students rank close to the bottom in every skills category.

Our agriculture is failing us day after day. We cannot hobble our way to sustainable development if our food production continues to stagnate. The new budget proposes no dramatic solutions to the way our agriculture is organized. Rising food prices drive our inflation rate.

There are other, non-budgetary concerns that Congress seems too preoccupied to meaningfully address.

On the table, for instance, are the franchise renewals of electric cooperatives that have so obviously failed their customers. Specifically, there is the franchise renewal of Northern Davao Electric Cooperative Inc. (Nordeco) whose failure to deliver quality service punishes the community it serves in so many ways.

Last May, a state of emergency was declared in Samal Island because of the long blackouts suffered by its residents. The power outages, all due to the failure of Nordeco to improve its services, brought the island’s tourism industry to its knees.

Were power services better, Samal Island has tremendous potential as a tourism destination. Because of Nordeco’s failure, the island is now a dead spot.

For better or for worse, only Congress can act on all franchise questions. The Executive branch could do nothing independent of Congress, even if the failure of the local cooperative is glaring.

It might be too much to expect Congress to immediately act decisively on Nordeco’s application for franchise renewal – even if franchises are a privilege and not a right. The holiday mood has set in. No one in Congress seems to be disposed towards doing work.

Over the past few months, Congress appears to have been too distracted by politicking and grandstanding. More important matters like the performance evaluation of franchise renewal applicants were left unattended.

Such matters may be too trivial for some legislators. But they involve life or death questions for many communities affected by faulty laws or failed franchises.

We hope our legislators will put their noses back to the wheel at the onset of the new year.

Disruptive

Inflationary pressures across the global economy might have been relieved palpably by the downward trend in oil prices. But war got in the way.

Oil prices should be on the downtrend – despite OPEC+’s efforts to voluntarily cut production. Central banks in the world’s largest economies are slow in cutting down the high interest rates imposed to curb inflation. Slowing growth in China and Europe dampened global demand. The US strategic petroleum reserves have been filled. There was nothing on the horizon that could possibly prop up oil prices – except the widening effects of war on global commerce.

Last month, Houthi rebels in Yemen captured one vessel and started firing missiles at commercial shipping crossing the narrow mouth of the Red Sea. US warships deployed to the area routinely shot down the slow-moving Iranian-made drones fired from Houthi-controlled areas. But the attacks have been persisting, particularly at the narrow Bab al-Mandab strait bordered by Yemen on the Arabian peninsula and Eritrea on the African side.

Several European powers have deployed additional warships to help protect international shipping through the strait. The US recently issued a call for other countries such as China to deploy more naval assets to keep trade flowing.

All ships using the Suez Canal to deliver goods from Asia to Europe and vice versa have to pass through the narrow strait threatened by Houthi missiles. The Houthis, for their part, are firing missiles as a show of solidarity with the poople of Gaza.

The Hizbollah in southern Lebanon seems unwilling to widen the war by opening hostilities with Israel. The Houthis appear to be under pressure from Tehran to launch attacks on Israel. Previously, they tried firing missiles over a long distance to hit Israel but failed to penetrate the air defense system.

As a result of Houthi missile attacks on commercial shipping, several companies have decided to avoid using the Suez Canal. This forces cargo carriers to take the much longer route around southern Africa to get to their markets. That adds to the cost of goods.

The Houthi attacks are causing serious disruptions in global shipping. This will harm not only Israel but the entire global economy.