Political Science

Mel Paolo F. Feliciano

POS 100

Benigno S. Aquino III. Sixth State of the Nation Address

        From the uninformed eye, the points raised by our president in the sixth SONA seems to tell us there seems to be nothing but good happening here in the Philippines. I use the word uninformed to describe myself because in all honesty, I was never a huge follower of our politics. Though from time to time I check out the news and talk to others regarding the current state of our country, I feel that my knowledge in the area and the way it is operates is still insufficient if I am to try and understand fully the cause and effect of certain actions and governance.

        I am a Management major and thus my focus and goal in life is usually related to business. I have taken up a few economic classes both here and abroad so for this paper, I will be focusing mainly on the economic sector of our President’s speech. However, I do feel that there are numerous parts in other areas that are key components when talking about what is happening currently with the Philippine economy.

        First and foremost, Pres. Aquino focuses heavily on the cleaning out and forcing change within the administration. “kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap” he mentions. A huge exaggeration if you ask me. There will always be corruption no matter how big or small, administration or business. It is simply human nature. With that being said, we can say there will always be poverty as well. More often than not, someone has to lose for the other to win, sad but true. As a citizen living in this country, do you feel that there is no more or even less corruption? I don’t. Nevertheless it is a difficult but necessary step if we are to move forward as a nation.

Contrary to popular belief I do feel that this could be a good move by our president. We find examples in other countries that have risen from the ashes of corruption such as South Korea. And though people are right to question the lack of new ideas or policies for future change and growth, fixing past mistakes and making it a point to change the administration before moving forward could prove to be promising in the long run. After all, isn’t that why when constructing a building, we create a solid foundation first?

Moving on to our economy, Pres. Aquino talks about the increases of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Gross National Product (GNP), Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and even local investment. He mentions that these are mainly due to the raised level of investor confidence as “untouchable” and corrupt officials are now being prosecuted and/or questioned. Basically, the level of uncertainty created due to corruption was reduced and this businessmen are now willing to invest in our country. Some articles indicate that our President is simply riding the wave created by the previous administration. There could be some truth to this statement as he did mention that certain economic sectors were not actually his focus but they improved nevertheless. Is all due to his fight against corruption? I highly doubt it.  

 In my time abroad, there are mixed reviews about investing in the Philippines. Some see a fast growing economy with a cheap labor force while others see a huge bubble in danger of popping. However this is usually the way business works. Whilst I met a few people who are planning to move and do business here, some don’t even see the Philippines as an option given that there are better options such as China, India or Russia. Personally, I feel that there is in fact growth happening and real growth at that. Investors not just from Southeast Asia are gaining confidence in the Philippine market and this gets me very excited. Though we don’t know for sure what is going to happen in the next few years, continuous growth could potentially mean good news for both local and foreign businessmen.