WALANG PERA ANG GOBYERNO! - Karen Davila
Karen Davila: "I will make it simple. Walang pera ang gobyerno! So you will be facing a lot of challenges as the new Finance Secretary of the incoming Marcos administration. So what is the plan?"
This was her premise when she shot her first question to Ben Diokno, anticipating that the former BSP Governor will make a litany of the failures of the outgoing Duterte administration. But lo, and behold, her jaw almost dropped when the finance genius answered:
📌 (1) I had the benefit of having served the government for more than 30 years, and I have seen all kinds of crisis. I've seen the worst of our economy, but we are in a better position now. Prior to the Duterte administration, we were heavily indebted and had a hard time arguing with the IMF. Before, our foreign reserves will last for only 2-months at least. But with the Duterte admin, we have at least 9-months worth of import reserves;
📌(2) Currently, we do not have a problem with paying our debts which are mostly domestic than foreign, and we are a net contributor to the IMF;
📌(3) The Duterte admin has the best tax structure than the previous admin that can help the Marcos leadership;
📌(4) The Duterte administration is the golden years of infrastructure for our country due to the Build, Build, Build program, where the government spent from 5 to 6% of the GDP, and gave us better airports, and better seaports that boost our international trading. It created jobs, high-quality jobs, and expands the capacity to gain economic growth. This is unlike the previous administrations where the Philippines was branded as the poorest in infrastructure in Asia because they only spent less than 2% for infrastructure;
📌(5) Now we have the Public Service Act that is a 90-year program, allowing 100% foreign investments for big-ticket projects like telcos, airports, subways and other similar projects;
📌(6) We have a standing 80-plus programs from