Optimism up as we near the start of the new year

HERE is optimism among the people that their lives and the economy in general will get better next year.

This was reduced to figures in a September survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) as follows: 47 percent said they expect their lives to improve in 2018, against only 4 percent who said they expect them to get worse.

This could be related to the fact that this time of the year is traditionally a good and welcome one in the Philippines. It is a time for year-end harvests in rural areas. The “amihan” – the cool winds from the northeast regions of the planet – take over from the “habagat” from the warm southeast equatorial regions.

For the Christian majority in the Philippine population, this is the Christmas season. In fact, many began celebrating the season as early as the first day of September. It has now reached its peak, with streets decorated with traditional “parol” lanterns, Christmas programs and parties in schools and offices, year-end bonuses, and churchyards filled with people in the “Simbang Gabi.”

Even in Mindanao, with its Muslim and Lumad communities, the year is ending with great optimism arising from the end of the five-month-long siege in Marawi City. For a while, there was fear that the Islamic State-inspired Maute Group was going to hold off our Armed Forces but the rebellion is over and rehabilitation is underway.

But there is more to this general optimism in the country than the welcome weather at this time of the year, the Christmas spirit, and the restored peace in the South. There is also optimism arising from expected developments in the coming months and years.

With the recent approval of the National Budget, funds have now been authorized for a massive infrastructure program that will boost the economies of all parts of the country – roads and bridges, schoolrooms, airports and seaports, railroads, even a subway for Metro Manila. Each of these many projects will impact on the economy. More important to ordinary people, these will mean employment and livelihood for many who have long struggled to survive without regular income.

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which grew 6.9 percent in the last quarter, the Asian Development Bank’s upgraded outlook for Philippine growth in 2018 to 6.8 percent, and Fitch Ratings upgrading its investment rating for the Philippines to “BBB” – all reflect the international community’s very positive assessment of Philippine economic growth and development.

The SWS survey shows that the people share this international optimism. There may still be some problems that need to be attended to, but in general, there is a great feeling of hope that change is coming and that it will be good for the country as a whole and for their own individual lives.