Report Sample on President Duterte 10-Point Agenda

Introduction

During the recently concluded World Economic Forum, President Rodrigo Duterte and his economic managers presented the Duterte-Nomics, the administration's economic agenda. There was an emphasis on the vitalness of maintaining peace and facilitating the economy's growth, which can be achieved by fighting corruption, criminality, and smuggling. Through the list, the president addresses the bedrock so that the country's economy can flourish and achieve prosperity.

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Meaning and Updates on the Agenda

Plan 1: the president targeted to maintain and continue the current macroeconomic policies. The president’s priority agenda was to slash the poverty incidence rate, which is 26% to 17%. The primary government aims to strengthen fiscal, trade, and monetary policies alongside prioritizing tax reforms while seeking necessary social development changes. These policies touched on reducing corruption, eliminating of drugs, and restoring peace and order.

The current government has taken steps to reassure investors that macroeconomic policies will be maintained. Further, (Castro 2016) has embarked on bilateral trade with countries such as China for investment projects.

Agenda 2: The president had to set up reformist duty changes and a more powerful expense assortment ordering charges to swell (Batalla, 2016). People are profoundly urged to spare and contribute where there are tax reductions. It is prompted that the rates are affected by quick spending cuts or, in any case, may bring about expanded government spending shortfalls, which reflects an expansion in loan fees and a decrease in public sparing.

Removing burdensome domestic regulations that impede the movement of goods will foster the growth of export targets. Adopting the complete duty change bundle, for instance, streamlining the assessment framework, will advance intentional consistency, decrease the expense of consistency, and increment assortment. Further, there were changes that were brought about by the Passage of Tax Reforms for Acceleration and Inclusion Law, which remember changes for domain assessment, VAT, and exercise charges on oil-based goods. The act aims to generate revenue to eradicate extreme poverty and create inclusive institutions to achieve in vision of 2022 and 2040 in mind.

Agenda 3: the president aimed to increase competitiveness and simple terms for doing business, which will foster the creation of successful models used to attract business in the cities. Through this, the government can pursue the relaxation of constitutional restrictions on foreign ownership hence attracting foreign direct investment. As a result, there will be reduced crime, which translates to an increased number of businessmen and consumers and increased security.

Automation and streamlining of business licensing and permitting systems can improve the cost of doing business and eliminate corruption windows. The government has shown its efforts to bypass the Ease of Doing Business Act and create a unified business application form to ease business startup and renewal processes and close windows for corruption through the zero-contact policy.

Agenda 4: To accelerate annual infrastructure spending to account for 5% of GDP public-private partnerships play the key role. The government intends to include small, medium, and large-scale projects implemented in the lagging and developed areas. Generally, infrastructure creates demand, which directly impacts the economy in terms of production. Further, it also contributes to distribution and demand-based revenue streams as the products have to be transported, and through this, job generation is created as well.

Many parts of the Philippines have continuously faced poor infrastructure difficulties. The country is still struggling with and performing poorly in terms of infrastructure despite its continuous increase in spending. The widening trade deficit can be held responsible for the increased infrastructure spending resulting from the surge in imports of capital goods linked to public infrastructure construction.

Agenda 5: Promote the rural development of the value chain geared towards increasing rural enterprise productivity, agriculture, and rural tourism. All these factors incorporate and depict the interdependence between the economy, nature, and society. Through these interactions, there is the increased promotion of innovation, exchange of knowledge, and overall promotion of recreational and environmental uses of rural areas, which foster economic growth.

There have been qualitative measures and restrictions on rice imports for the Philippine government, responsible for regulating rice imports. With the Passage of the Rice Trade Liberation Law, the rules were lifted, and import tariffs were implemented instead (Nicostrato & Pradesha, 2019). That move has hugely impacted food security and nutrition matters as it gives freedom to the entire agricultural sector.

Agenda 6: was to ensure land tenure security to stir investments and address bottlenecks in titling agencies and management of land. When land tenure is promoted, then it attracts direct investment in rural areas. Most of the land in the Philippines is untitled and owned collectively. When the issue of untitled land is addressed, then the countryside would benefit from additional capital.

Agenda 7: was to invest in human capital development. Through this, the government can match training to skills and look into the education & health systems. When the skills and training are well developed, individuals can land jobs that they are skilled in, and general human development can lead to increased employment and individual satisfaction. Further, the development will help meet the needs of the private sector and businesses.

The agenda was achieved and kick-started when the president signed the Universal Health Care Act that automatically enrolled Filipino citizens in a health insurance program. The program has given citizens access to medical services and protection from financial hardship.

Agenda 8: was geared towards promoting science, technology, and creative arts. Through this, then they create a safe space to intensify innovation and create a safe space for self-sustaining inclusive development.

With regard to technology, stakeholders are working on an efficient system of national innovation to enhance the innovative capacity of the export sector. Further, the president signed the Balik Scientist Law in 2018 to give more incentives to returning Filipino experts to spread knowledge and share expertise. Additionally, the scientist gets access to grants and enjoys a special working and non-working visa.

Agenda 9: was to improve social protection programs. People can be protected against economic shocks and instability through actions such as including the government’s Conditional Cash Transfer programs. It also devised a social protection strategy called the Social Protection Floor to help achieve universal social protection. Additionally, it focused on protecting the aging population and assisting the poor invest in education for their children.

The government has not yet achieved much on this as the National ID system is the security backbone. Additionally, it has majorly led to a crisis in delivering the Philippines (Ramos, 2020). He has claimed many lives of the poor in his war against drugs alongside intimidating and harassing agencies and individuals tasked with accountability.

Agenda 10: was to strengthen the implementation of the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Law. The agenda is geared towards enabling couples, especially the poor, to make good family planning choices. Government agencies were issued with a directive to attain zero unmet need for family planning.

The reproductive health law was fully implemented. It guarantees universal access to methods of contraception, maternal care, and sexual education. Additionally, it is supposed to reduce unplanned pregnancies by enabling couples to have spacing for the children and the desired number. However, the family planning program is yet to be fully implemented despite the passing of the law.

References

Batalla, E. V. C. (2016). Divided Politics and Economic Growth in the Philippines. Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, 35(3), 161–186. https://doi.org/10.1177/186810341603500308

Nicostrato, P., & Pradesha, A. (2019). PHILIPPINE RICE TRADE LIBERALIZATION: IMPACTS ON AGRICULTURE AND THE ECONOMY, AND ALTERNATIVE POLICY ACTIONS. ReSAKSS Asia. https://www.resakss-asia.org/2019/09/26/philippine-rice-trade-liberalization-impacts-on-agriculture-and-the-economy-and-alternative-policy-actions/.

Ramos, C. G. (2020, January 11). Change without Transformation: Social Policy Reforms in the Philippines under Duterte. Wiley Online Library. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/dech.12564.

Castro, R. C. D. (2016, December 1). The Duterte Administration's Foreign Policy: Unravelling the Aquino Administration's Balancing Agenda on an Emergent China - Renato Cruz De Castro, 2016. SAGE Journals. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/186810341603500307.