The Philippine Economy in 2017 (Part 1)

tebowingwithkimkar
Dec 21, 2017
2 min read

According to a neighbor our economy wasn't going in the right direction since Duterte took over the presidency. That proclamation from him is no big surprise since he campaigned or voted for Roxas. For someone who doesn't trade stocks or currencies, who doesn't have a masters in Economics, and who only reads one of the YELLOW dailies, he should talk. Perhaps, listening to the propaganda, spins & lies too much of one political party that he adores and the YELLOW media (we know who they are) which pretty much badmouth the president every chance they get, had clouded his judgment a little. Yeah, that's it!!!! Nothing to do about him being too partisan.

However, Vivian Yuchengco, says otherwise. She said that our economy is stable. To those blaming Duterte for scaring investors, Yuchengco informed them that investors began selling stocks long before Duterte waged his war on drugs. But why should we believe her? Who is Vivian Yuchengco anyway? Vivian just happens to be one of the country’s most powerful women. She is Chairman at Philippine Association of Securities Brokers & Dealers, Inc. and a Managing Director at The First Resources Mgmt & Resources Corp. She is on the Board of Directors at Philippine Stock Exchange, Inc. and Philippine Dealing System Holdings Corp. Yeah, she knows about the economy.

Isa pa, sabi ni ex-Pres. GMA, the economy is doing very well under Duterte. Sinong paniniwalaan ko? Isang economist na nag-aral sa Georgetown U. (GMA), isang chairman ng Assoc. of Securities Brokers & Dealers at director pa ng Phil. Stock Exchange (Yuchengco), o isang bitter na kapitbahay who can't move on from his political idol's presidential election loss?

Full disclosure, neither my neighbor nor I really know a lot about the economy since we're both not experts on the matter. But allow me to present to you some news articles from unbiased sources and social media tweets related to this topic. As they say in the U.S., "It's the economy, stupid."

Though this Manila Bulletin news article was written in Oct of 2016 I feel I need to include this in this post. I think you'd understand why:

Reducing piracy will have positive effects on our economy.

Our neighbor think that the devaluing of PHL Peso is a bad thing. It actually has a positive effect on the economy except perhaps on importation. People who receive U.S. dollars from OFWs will have more pesos to spend (the more money circulating, the better the economy). Basing on my previous experience, prices don't really rise as fast due to price control. But if they do, you can always opt NOT TO BUY high-priced products. This will encourage people to buy locally grown or produced products. Remember that time Obama went to China? One reason he went there was to ask China to raise the value of their currency. China pretty much told Obama, "No way, Jose!" Why do you think the Chinese refused the U.S. request? Because raising the value of their currency wouldn't be good for their economy.