RATINGS CAN'T FEED POOR / NOY BLAMES 'UNSTABLE
JUDICIARY'
MANILA, DECEMBER 9,
2011 (STANDARD) by Joyce Pangco Pañares and Maricel Cruz -
Opposition criticizes the President for 'amateurish and clumsy' leadership,
saying high ratings cannot feed the poor
THE Philippines is preparing for a deep global economic downturn next year
following an Asian Development Bank warning it could happen, President Benigno
Aquino III said Wednesday.
"We are preparing as best we can," Mr. Aquino said.
"Of course, we will do accelerated but prudent domestic spending with
attendant safeguards. We will do everything we can. We will improve on so many
sectors, but at the end of the day, the reality is it [economic slowdown] is a
global phenomenon."
The ADB has cut its growth forecast for the Philippines' gross domestic
product to 3.7 percent this year from 4.7 percent earlier, and to 4.8 percent in
2012 from its previous estimate of 5.1 percent as a result of the global
economic downturn.
The bank said Philippine growth could slow further to 4.2 percent if Europe's
debt woes worsened and the United States' economic problems deepened.
Mr. Aquino, who has come under fire for his administration's weak public
spending in the first nine months, said the government will disburse the funds
from its 2012 budget earlier next year.
Palace officials are pinning their hopes on a P72-billion stimulus package
approved in October to boost the fourth quarter gross domestic product.
Economic growth under the Aquino administration slowed to 3.2 percent in the
July-September quarter. That put the growth for the first nine months at 3.6
percent, "quite a distance" even from the lower end of the whole year target of
4.5 percent, the National Statistical Coordination Board said.
In the House, opposition lawmakers criticized Mr. Aquino for his "amateurish
and clumsy" leadership, saying he failed to use his high approval ratings in the
surveys to improve the economy.
"You cannot put trust ratings on the dining table," Zambales Rep. Milagros
Magsaysay said.
"Trust ratings cannot satisfy the hunger of Juan dela Cruz."
Magsaysay said the President had failed to reduce poverty, hunger,
unemployment and commodity prices or improve investments.
Minority Leader Edcel Lagman took the President to task for his "dismal
performance" to date as chief executive: "from failing to spend on essential
government projects and dragging down economic growth as a result, to inciting
hostility and investor lawsuits against us abroad as a result of his errant and
impolitic brand of diplomacy, to neglecting peace and order and compromising
national security because he does not seem to understand who are the country's
real friends and enemies."
Deputy Minority Leader Danilo Suarez dismissed Mr. Aquino's attempt to blame
the economic slowdown on the "judicial uncertainty" that he said was brought
about by the Supreme Court.
"When will all this finger-pointing end? When will you take responsibility
and accountability for your own actions, Mr. President?" Suarez said.
Last week, President Aquino said the Philippines was "lucky" despite three
consecutive quarters of decline because the economy remained stable and
investors continued to put their money in the country.
He blamed the economic slowdown on the problems brought on by external events
such as the tsunami in Japan, the instability in the Middle East, and the
European debt crisis.
But the figures released by the National Statistical Coordination Board
showed the country lagged behind Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia and
Thailand, countries that also had to go through the same challenges.
FROM MANILA TIMES
Aquino blames unstable judiciary for poor economy
Wednesday, December 07, 2011 00:00 Article Views : 2,990 Written by : Jaime
Pilapil, Reporter
[PHOTO - President Benigno S. Aquino III delivers his speech
during the Bulong Pulungan Annual Christmas Party and Recognition Day for
Outstanding Public Servants and Private Individuals at the Luzon Ballroom of the
Sofitel Philippine Plaza in Pasay City on Tuesday (December 06). Malacañang Photo Bureau).
There was no stopping President Benigno Aquino 3rd from stepping up his
attack on the judiciary on Tuesday, this time blaming the co-equal branch of the
government for the country's slow economy.
"A judicial system that does not promote stability and certainty does not
enhance the economic environment," President Aquino said during the media forum
Bulong Pulungan at Hotel Sofitel in Pasay City (Metro Manila).
As such, the President added, whipping up the economy into better shape by
making it generate employment would still be his administration's main concern
for next year.
"We are not changing priorities, the very first problem that I had during the
campaign was jobs, it is still the economy that is still the priority" in 2012,
he said.
Mr. Aquino, however, sued for time.
"Adversely, an economic environment that does not have a level playing field
will not see [an improved economy] as possible but we are saying that in about
an hour's time I am meeting with the economic team and one of the questions that
we will get is how, we are in transition from before, the money of government or
the public's money was being spent, so now the purpose of prudent spending,
change in culture that could not happen overnight," he said.
According to him, he wanted to "maintain the safeguards and, at the same
time, accelerate the process where disbursements by the DBM [Department of
Budget and Management] are actually utilized by the line agencies at the
quickest possible time."
"I do not want a repeat of what transpired this year," he added, without
elaborating.
The President called for "prudent" spending, which, he said, enabled the
government to get closer to the number of classrooms (45,000) that he had
promised during his State of the Nation Address in July this year.
He announced progress in his administration's Public-Private Partnership
program, citing the bidding for an expressway project and rebuilding of Terminal
1 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport… "then of course the aesthetics
after that."
Mr. Aquino attacked the Supreme Court on Monday, telling Chief Justice Renato
Corona that he was a "midnight appointee" of then-President Gloria Arroyo.
On December 2, he also publicly humiliated Corona before the elite Makati
Business Club. Monday's savaging of the Chief Justice came with the territory,
according to the President's allies in the House of Representatives.
Rep. Miro Quimbo of Marikina City (also in Metro Manila) told the weekly
Ugnayan sa Batasan News Forum that the High Tribunal "should not be
onion-skinned."
Rep. Teddy Brawner Baguilat of Ifugao agreed, saying that the Supreme Court
is not a sacred council.
Joseph Victor Ejercito of San Juan City (also in Metro Manila) said, also
without elaborating, that the attack on the Chief Justice resulted from the
President's frustration.
Palace spokesman Edwin Lacierda said that the President did it because he
wanted "to remind all government officials that we are all accountable to the
people." With report from Llanesca T. Panti
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2011 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
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rights reserved
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