Chiz: Gloria should take lead in RP recession solution plans

01/06/2009

President Arroyo should start offering solutions to the probable impact from the looming gobal recession, which threatens the jobs of millions of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

One way to do this is to promote the local market, possibly even consider a halt in the exportation of financial resources, Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero said yesterday.

“The government should put our eggs in our own basket. It should take the lead in showing confidence in the Philippine economy by spending inward and fill the vacuum that will be left by the global economic slowdown,” the senator said.

Escudero is also urging Malacañang to tap the assistance of some government financial institutions (GFIs) to help stimulate the country’s economy by imposing a clear domestic industry bias in government procurement and investment.

The financial capacity of government-owned corporations like Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) and Social Security System (SSS), having global investment programs, can pump direct local investments that would generate jobs for those who will be displaced by the recessions and those who are unemployed now for a long while.

“The global investment programs of GSIS and SSS have melted down the pensioners’ money with investments made in foreign financial markets like the Lehman Brothers which collapsed. If we are to invest and eventually lose our money, we might as well lose it here in the home front,” he said.

Investing locally, Escudero said should be twinned with a “buy Filipino” policy which can also stimulate the weakening economy.

“By buying local products for the government’s consumption needs like supply and materials for its construction projects, the country has a failsafe way to keep jobs, or even hire more, create business, raise taxes, conserve dollars, retain talent, prevent factory closures and kill smuggling.”

The government has the biggest shopping money around, Escudero said and it is well within its plan and means to boost the country’s domestic economy.

“The protection and promotion of our local market depends on how the government prepared and planned for the eventuality of an economic slowdown. If the President is really the economist that she claims to be, this is one of those times that we need a good economist in our midst,” he said.

Angie M. Rosales and Tribune wires

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