‘Policy continuity’ seen from Duterte to Marcos presidency
Fitch Solutions yesterday said it was expecting a “smooth transition” and a policy continuity after former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. dominated the recent presidential polls based on partial unofficial results.
“We expect a smooth transition to the Marcos administration from the outgoing Duterte administration, with little changes in policy direction,” Fitch Solutions said in a report.
“We had previously noted that Marcos is the continuity candidate as his economic and foreign policy stances are most similar to the outgoing Duterte administration. His election win, therefore, bodes well for policy continuity in the Philippines,” it added.
Although President Rodrigo Duterte declined to publicly pronounce support for any presidential bet, his daughter Sara DuterteCarpio, who is also poised to become the next vice president, is Marcos’ running mate.
With Marcos set to become the country’s 17th president based on the partial unofficial result, Fitch Solutions said it has raised the country’s “Policy Continuity” subcomponent score to 80 from 70.
“Going forward, we expect the change in administration to result in only negligible changes to both economic and foreign policy direction,” it said.
Fitch Solutions said it had also raised the Philippine Short-Term Political Risk Index Score to 66.5 out of 100, from 64 “after unofficial results showed that Ferdinand “Bong Bong” Marcos Jr had won the May 9 presidential election with a landslide victory.”
As of 8:37 a.m. yesterday, Marcos has so far garnered over 31 million votes while his rival, Vice President Leni Robredo, has over 14 million.
Fitch Solutions, however, noted that the Marcos administration “has not revealed members of his economic policy team and has provided few policy details” during the campaign period.
Marcos has declined to join presidential debates, unlike his opponents who used the platform to discuss their economic agendas.
But Fitch Solutions said it believes that a Marcos administration would pursue the Build,
Build, Build infrastructure program.
Among the UniTeam’s campaign promises are the modernization of the Pasig River Ferry System, the development the country’s digital infrastructure, focus on jobs and prices, and the establishment “food sovereignty,” among others.