Challenging, but a good year
MERRY Christmas to all Filipinos here and abroad! My family and I wish you all the blessings of prosperity, peace, and health. As I always say during this time of the year, use the holidays to reaffirm your love with family, to reconnect with friends and reboot yourself. Go beyond the glitter and commercialism of the season and realize what you have to be thankful for despite the challenges you faced this year. Celebrate small victories, learn from mistakes. The birth of Christ signaled our rebirth from sin. May this season allow us a period of renewal.
The year that is about to end has been a challenging year, but a good year for the country nevertheless. Despite instabilities globally, the Philippine economy remained strong and resilient. Our strong fundamentals should allow us to survive this financial storm.
The economy grew by 6.1 percent in the previous quarter. Nothing to crow about since it is slower than the 7.2 percent growth the previous quarter. But considering the challenges in the global economy — the US and China’s trade skirmishes, volatility in many parts of the globe including Venezuela and Turkey — our growth is a reflection of sound fundamentals. We remain as one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia, next only to Vietnam at 7 percent and China at 6.5 percent.
Despite all the political noises by a few, I think that the country has had a relatively stable political climate the past years. The Bangsamoro Organic Law has been passed and is now poised to usher in an era of peace, stability, and prosperity in Mindanao. The declaration of martial law in Mindanao has caused a dent on the proliferation of illegal arms and armed groups in the region. Again, despite political rhetoric, the Communist insurgency has been kept at bay. This should allow the countryside to get some breather and boost rural development.
In terms of peace and order, the administration’s campaign against illegal drugs has been controversial but has actually delivered results. People have noticed an improvement in peace and order in their communities.
The June, 2018, Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey reported that the number of families reporting victimization by any of the common crimes (pickpocket or robbery of personal property, break-ins, carnapping, and physical violence) fell to 5.3% (or about 1.2 million). Property crime (losing property to street robbery, burglars, or carnappers) also declined to 5.1%.
Business has been good. At Vista Land for instance, expansion is ongoing at a frenetic pace. With four opened in 2018 we now have a total of 27 malls all over the country. This year we opened 12 Coffee Project branches bringing our total to 34 stores. The same is true with our other retail group: AllHome, AllDay, AllToys, Finds Finds, AllSports, Bake My Day, and, AllBank.
We are not the only one expanding. Many businesses — big, small, medium, and micro — have experienced tremendous growth in 2018. This is evident by the fact that construction is booming to such an extent that we are actually experiencing a shortage in skilled labor in the construction industry. The demand is high, especially with government’s ambitious infrastructure development plan — Build, Build, Build — that is designed to propel our economy to new heights by modernizing our infrastructure.
The year has also been good for us on the global stage. We have regained the respect we deserve as an independent nation in the global community. Our foreign policy has become more mature as we improve relations with China, Japan, Russia, and Malaysia even as we maintain our cordial ties with the United States.
Despite many challenges, we should be grateful for a successful year. And let us use that optimism to empower us to confront a new year.