Ghost of Ate Glue haunts us still

DEMAND AND SUPPLY By Boo Chanco (The Philippine Star) Updated November 01, 2010 12:00 AM Comments (5)
I cringe every time P-Noy says something that Ate Glue used to say. The ghost of Ate Glue just won’t leave us alone. And it seems P-Noy had been haunted by this ghost. Or what would possess P-Noy to say what he did while he was in Hanoi about the implications of a strong peso?
According to our reporter who covered P-Noy in his visit to Hanoi last week, “Mr. Aquino gladly interpreted the stronger peso against the dollar as an indication of a booming economy, or what he called an ‘emerging market or emerging economy,’ which means a better standard of living for all.” P-Noy, according to our reporter, “assuaged fears of not just overseas Filipino workers here but in other parts of the world as well that the strengthening of the peso means that the Philippines is now an ‘emerging economy’.”
Ano daw? NEDA Secretary Dondon Paderanga is sleeping on the job. He must realize that even if P-Noy has an undergraduate degree in Economics, his teacher was Ate Glue. No wonder it seems like the ghost of Ate Glue continues to haunt us still through P-Noy’s appreciation of economics. This is not a good sign at all.
We can understand some of the twisted principles of Glorianomics during Ate Glue’s watch. She was desperate to show she was a good economic manager and she had to sustain the illusion she was delivering results. Hence, every time she insisted that a strong peso is a sign of economic accomplishment, we just sighed and said “Whateverrrr!”
But P-Noy? Okay, it was good ego trip for P-Noy to keep on hearing from those eager to win his approval such things like the bullish stock market is on account of confidence he generated. That is anyway, partly true. The bigger part of the truth, however, is that investors are just fleeing the American and European markets and flocking to emerging markets like ours.
Sa bagay, if it was still Ate Glue at the Palace rather than P-Noy, the bullish sentiment for emerging markets could have passed us by. Even the Americans withheld the Millennium Development grant because they didn’t trust Ate Glue with their $500 million. But P-Noy must not totally believe all the bulls—t he is told by people who want contracts or appointments.
The peso is strong basically because OFW remittances have been strong even at the height of the world economic crisis. Of course, there is also no denying hot money looking for emerging market profits is part of the reason too.
P-Noy should sit down and have a long talk with Dondon P. who will have to tutor him on economics to banish the ghost of Ate Glue’s class lectures from his consciousness. The NEDA Chief should also start discussing with P-Noy the priorities in a long list of things to do in order to get the economy humming. The time for the ego trips about inspiring confidence from investors is over. Investors have served notice that unless deliverables are delivered soon enough, their confidence in P-Noy will be increasingly eroded.
In fact, that was the mood last week when the foreign chambers of commerce sat down to talk about what to do with the economy. Sure, the businessmen were pretty optimistic not just because of P-Noy’s credibility but also because what looks like a global pickup is about to make them end this year with some amount of respectable growth.
But everybody expressed worry about bottlenecks that may derail their fondest hopes and dreams for the economy. Among problems cited include: the strengthening peso, dwindling productivity, inadequate infrastructure and unclear government policies.
“We need more than 1,000 kilometers of toll roads just like Thailand,” Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. President Ramoncito S. Fernandez said, noting that the Philippines has only 300 kilometers in comparison. “If we can double this in five years, that’s a noble achievement already,” Mr. Fernandez said, adding that the government needs to “fast track the right of way process.”
Yes, also mentioned are: inadequate agriculture infrastructure, need for a roadmap to develop manufacturing, and a fresh marketing campaign to attract tourists to come in the face of our rather challenging international reputation for personal safety. Government is also being urged to address the big disincentive of high power rates. We have heard these all before.
There is also increasing impatience on the slow pace of P-Noy’s administration in securing low hanging fruits like NAIA 3. That terminal had been idle for over ten years now. I asked the German Ambassador last Thursday evening what was going on in the case and he could only shrug as if to say that nothing much is happening. Indeed, Piatco has sent eviction notices to the airlines and other merchants doing business in NAIA 3 who are there under the auspices of government.
I heard from another source that German Chancellor Angela Merkel sent a collection letter to then President Arroyo in connection with NAIA 3. Apparently, the German government had paid Fraport’s insurance claim for the failed project. Now, they are collecting from our government. So it is now a government-to-government dispute. We cannot afford to alienate Germany much longer.
Another low hanging fruit that is turning out to be more difficult to secure has to do with our aviation sector’s international safety rating. I heard from the grapevine that we flunked the European aviation agency’s evaluation again. I understand we only passed one of the many criteria in their checklist. A ghost of Ate Glue is still there at the CAAP… no wonder!
That means we cannot have a tourism drive in Europe because European tourists will not be able to get travel insurance if they want to come here. And if we cannot gain the nod of the Europeans, we aren’t likely to gain the approval of the US FAA. That means Philippine Airlines still cannot use their brand new fleet of long range aircrafts that are more fuel efficient.
In fairness, the administration was able to complete the LRT extension project from Balintawak to Trinoma. We haven’t heard much about the need to upgrade and add to the MRT coaches for the benefit of an increasing number of riders. NorthRail is still quite dead. And all we have heard about the LRT from Trinoma to San Jose del Monte in Bulacan are press releases from proponents.
Of utmost urgency is the power situation in the country and even in the main Luzon Grid. P-Noy has to be heard how he plans to handle what his own Energy department is saying about a 300-MW deficiency by next year. Power blackouts so early in P-Noy’s term will generate glee from political enemies who will call it an Aquino curse, by way of recalling the massive blackouts during his mother’s watch. If only for the sake of family honor, P-Noy must make sure nothing like that happens.
In the meantime, it is important for the nation to see a hardworking President and Cabinet. We may call Ate Glue a lot of names but she is undoubtedly a hardworking President. If only she worked hard for the country’s welfare rather than to merely preserve her precarious hold on power, we wouldn’t be in this dire situation now.
But the first order of business for P-Noy is to exorcise the ghost of Ate Glue. I refuse to believe I voted Ate Glue out of office only to have her continue to haunt the country through P-Noy. If I wanted an Ate Glue groupie, I would have voted for Gibo.
Dondon Paderanga hopefully will work harder in the Cabinet than he did at the PSE, CIBI and the other sideline jobs he had at that time. He has to straighten out our P-Noy, or we can forget hoping for anything in the next six years.