The true state of the nation

Numbers do not lie. Facts tell the truth. Stripped of all hyperbole and rhetorical play of words, our country is in a difficult situation. We need to tell the truth. The nation is not in good shape. The economy is down. There is an external threat of aggression by China, possibly to be aided by Russia and North Korea. Support from the US is uncertain especially if Trump gets elected.

The country's population is up, poverty is rising, food security is at grave risk, unemployment is up, inflation is erratic and on an upward swing, and the national debt has reached an unprecedented ?15.3 trillion. The debt to GDP ratio is dismal and alarming. This ratio is a generally-accepted metric that compares a country's public debt to its gross domestic product. It reliably indicates the country's ability to pay its obligations to creditors both domestic and foreign. The ratio compares the amount the country owes to how much it produces. As of the end of 2023, the national debt was only ?14. 63 trillion but because of spiraling interest rates and the deteriorating value of the pesos compared to the US dollar, the national debt is now ?1.3 trillion. Every Filipino has a per-capita debt which is way above the global standard.

The population is 119,174,882 as of July 17, 2024, constituting 1.46% of the total world population. The Philippines is now number 13 among the world's most populated countries. Our population density is 394 per square kilometer or 1,019 per square miles. An estimated 47.1% or no less than 55,287,662 of the Filipinos are urban settlers thereby creating concentrations in metropolitan areas which are less than 10% of the country's total area of 298,170 square kilometers or 115,124 square miles. The World Bank has projected the poverty incidence in our country to be at 10.7% in 2024.That means no less than 12 million Filipinos living below the poverty line. But according to a survey of a community-based social research group called Tugon ng Masa, the self-rated poverty rate as of March 11 to 14, 2024 is no lower than 42%.

Unemployment rate in our country rose to 4.10% in May from 4% in April 2024. The Philippines' unemployment rate ranged from 8.01% in 1986 to a high of 17.6% in 2020 during the height of the pandemic lockdowns but we achieved a 3% rate in 2023. But given our big base in population a 4.01% could mean already about five million or more jobless Filipinos. And if each jobless worker has five members of each family, that means 25 million without source of livelihood. That means millions cannot pay house rent and cannot go to college. The Philippine Statistics Authority reported the underemployment rate for March 2024 to be 12.4% in February 2023. These could only mean worsening of the employment situation in the country under this administration.

On national security, the Philippines is facing a continuing grave and imminent danger of being attacked by China. If there is a shooting war, the country's capacity to sustain its defense possibly cannot last more than 72 hours. There is also a discernible resurgence of internal revolutionary movements in the hinterlands fueled by growing poverty, social injustice, and unabated corruption in the bureaucracy. There is also a persistent threat of the environmental devastation brought about by reckless mining activities, pollution, destruction of flora and fauna that continue to exacerbate the extreme weather disturbances bringing out typhoons, floods, and other natural disasters and calamities. The nation remains one of the most vulnerable in the world to the far-reaching consequences of climate change.

The leadership is divided. There is no clear vision and there is too much politics and too little economic activities. There are millions of jobless, homeless, and hopeless Filipinos. The people have to be told the truth. The leaders should stop deluding ourselves that the country is in good shape. The first test of leadership is to be honest with the people on the true state of the nation. This, we did not hear yesterday.