Illegal drugs, corruption, insurgency dragging economy down – PRRD

The local economy is "really dragging" due to the problems of illegal drug trade, corruption, and communist insurgency in the country, President Duterte said last Tuesday.

The President said the drug lords and New People’s Army (NPA) rebels must be neutralized if the country wants to soar and attain greater progress. At present, he said the country is like an airplane unable to take off from the runway.

"I cannot improve this --- the standing of our economy if marami akong kalaban itong mga droga, ang NPA, and we cannot, you know… One administration after another, ganun lang ‘yan (if we have so many enemies like drugs, NPA. We cannot, you know.. it's the same situation one administration after another)," he said during the Taal situation briefing in Batangas City Tuesday.

"If you cannot kill all of these NPAs and kill all of these drug lords, mahirapan tayong (it will be difficult for us). We are like a plane in the runway na nasa runway lang. Hindi tayo nag-te-take-off kailanman (We cannot take off ever)," he added.

Duterte also said the country cannot improve if there are still "idiots" who think they can take over the government.

"They say that the economy is better. I don't claim any credit for that but for me it's still the same. As long as the Filipinos really are jobless and we cannot improve the country because the countryside is full of idiots who think that they can take over government," he said.

Apart from the drug and insurgency challenges, Duterte expressed concern about the problems of corruption and red tape in government that slow down public service.

"We're getting nowhere and that is why the economy is really dragging, almost dragging when it fit. It's been a sakit (sickness)," he said.

Duterte said he intends to issue an executive order to streamline and automate government processes to hasten the delivery of public service.

After two quarters of slowdown, the local economy surged to 6.2 percent in the third quarter of 2019. The latest growth was faster compared to the 5.6 percent in the first quarter and 5.5 percent in the second quarter.

The government reportedly expected the economy to grow by 6.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019. The official figures are expected to be released this month.