Quite early on, all the other major presidential candidates, except former President Joseph Estrada, who preferred to wait for the official results of the vote, conceded victory in the May 10 Philippine elections to Senator Benigno Aquino III.
For the incoming president, the hard work of undertaking the necessary reforms now begins. Here are four foreign-related issues on which the new president will have to lead the nation.
Relations with China.
President Aquino may have to make an early visit to Beijing, if only to focus his mind on this all-important relationship, to take the measure of China's decision-makers, and to have a first-hand look at Chinese realities. Some of the issues to deal with are the conflicting claims of the Philippines and China to land features in the South China Sea and the uncertain nature of the maritime regimes there, the competition with China for markets and investments, the opportunities that a rapidly rising China presents to the Philippines, and the links between Chinese firms and powerful Filipinos. For the Philippines, China is both an opportunity and a challenge; it is both a rising power with which the Philippines has a territorial dispute and a surging market that can be an engine of growth for the region of which the country is a part. In any case, China is a looming force in East Asia while being held down by a number of internal constraints. The Philippines ought to approach its relations with China with utmost seriousness and sophistication, taking these tensions and seeming contradictions into account.
Competitiveness
The Philippines has been losing out in the global and regional competition for markets and investments. The reasons for this are not hard to fathom. Inconsistent economic policies. Uncertain economic decisions. Restrictive regulations on investments. Inadequate infrastructure. The high cost of public utilities. A sense of personal insecurity. The President has to address these perceptions, whether valid or not, whether founded on reality or merely created by a bad press. The rest of the world is not standing still. Already, Indonesia is outpacing the Philippines in economic growth and attractiveness for investors. Vietnam has long overtaken the country in, for example, tourist arrivals. This is not to mention the other neighbours – Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand – and China.
The Philippine diaspora
Filipinos at every level of skill have been leaving for other countries in increasing numbers to live and work. This phenomenon led a former member of the Philippine Cabinet to remark that Filipino labour and foreign capital are combining to build other countries. What is preferable, he said, is for Filipino labour to stay at home and combine with investments, domestic or foreign, to help build the Philippines. For this, both the Filipino worker and the necessary capital have to be attracted to engage themselves in the development of the Philippines – through the generation of employment, the expansion of the domestic market, efficient and affordable public services, educational improvements, the enforcement of the rule of law, personal security, the reduction of corruption, good governance, and the even-handed dispensation of justice. These are all, of course, inter-related and must be addressed together, simultaneously and head-on. Filipinos, those in the country and those outside it, yearn for these simple attributes of life and nationhood, which, they see in person or through the mass media, are enjoyed by other people as a matter of right. It is extremely unhealthy for society that its economy is so dependent on overseas citizens' remittances as that of the Philippines. It breaks up families. It hollows out the middle class. It deprives the nation of its most talented and enterprising workers.
The improvement of education
Related to the nation's international competitiveness, especially for the future, is the matter of education. First is the fundamental question of language. The nation remains undecided on the language in which children are to be taught – the language of their home, Tagalog or English. This is not about the learning of English, which nobody opposes, but about the most effective language in which to teach children the skills that they need for life and work. It is also about how English is most effectively taught and learnt – as the general language of instruction or as a second language. The second is the need to teach our children again love of country and the distinction between right and wrong. The schools, as well as families, have to teach children to embrace the right as something good for the self, the community and the country and reject the wrong as something harmful and personally and socially shameful. The third, and not necessarily the last, is training for science and technology; without the skills for these, economic progress is not possible.
These alone constitute a full agenda for the incoming president. He has to attend to them if the Philippines is to regain its place in the region and in the world under the new leadership.
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Kind Regards;
VK Pandey
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