What have the dirty politicians done to the Philippines?

The most compelling reason why a very small country, Singapore, is now an economic behemoth is because it had a great leader, Lee Kuan Yew. Conversely, the reason why a much larger nation, the Philippines is now a struggling economy, and is crawling below Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam, is because we have corrupt and incompetent politicians controlling political power and the nation's wealth.

I am neither for the Dutertes nor for BBM and I am sick and tired of hearing non-performing public officials always complaining against the administration when, in fact, they are components of the government. I am terribly exasperated by endless blaming and attacking the president when these critics are themselves part of the problem and not part of the solution.

I am not happy with what is happening to our country nowadays. The national debt is now more than ?18.16 trillion at the end of February this year. Each day, we need to allocate millions just to pay for the interest. With the U.S. dollar now almost ?62, we need to produce more just to cope with the compounding and escalating interests, not to mention the humongous principal debt, which equate to $304.4 billion.

Our domestic debt is 68.6% of the total debt amounting to a whopping ?12.05 trillion. Even if the Bureau of Treasury is prioritizing domestic borrowing to minimize the escalating foreign exchange risks. Our external debt is now ?5.52 trillion and counting because of high interest rates and the worsening value of our peso vis-a-vis the US dollars. Our debt-to-GDP ratio is approaching alarming levels.

The BBM government is poised to borrow another ?3 trillion just to fund the skyrocketing salaries and benefits of non-performing congressmen and senators, and a bloated bureaucracy. The government is harboring many corrupt and incompetent officials and personnel. The authorities are incapable of enforcing the law without fear or favor.

The economy is down, inflation is up. Poverty incidence is rising like crazy, With a Super El Niño coming, we can predict the worst famine followed by social conflicts and upheavals. About a million OFWs are coming home with the Middle East conflict still being unresolved. That means a substantial decrease of dollar remittances which, for the longest time, was the single source of foreign currency to keep our economy afloat.

Our population is now 119 million and counting. Our nominal GDP is $512.222 trillion, not too bad, but due to our runaway population our nominal per capita income is only $4,443. Singapore's nominal per capita income is no less than $107,758 and a PPP per capita income of a huge $173, 708. How can such a small country which does not even have its own source of drinking water become a world economic power?

The area of Singapore is only 744 square kilometers. It is as small as our province of Biliran. Marinduque is slightly bigger than Singapore. Luzon is 140 times bigger than Singapore and Mindanao is 127 times bigger than that island city state. The Philippines has 300,000 square kilometers. The Philippines is 417 times bigger than Singapore but our country is 100 times poorer than it. For every five Singaporean households, three are billionaires. In the Philippines 6 of every 10 Filipinos are living below the poverty line.

The politicians are stealing billions from the public funds out of the taxes paid by the overtaxed, underserved, underpaid, and overworked middle class. They are the ones who are pushing our economy down the drain, causing political conflicts and exacerbating the sufferings of our people. It is high time that we stop electing the incumbents who are corrupt and lazy, incompetent and inept.

It is high time that we recall the non-performing officials, who are only good at bragging and buying votes, stealing elections and doing nothing good for the poor and the middle class. It is high time that we, the people, should take back the power that we have entrusted to these dirty politicians. It is time to look for a Filipino Lee Kwan Yew.