THE WORD inflation used to sound Greek to most Filipinos. Now it’s what we remember when we pay much more for food and other basic necessities, as I did yesterday when I bought a 340-gram can of imported corned beef at P220. It was only P160 a month ago. Traveling farther back in time, I recalled that the same brand and size of corned beef cost only one peso during my elementary school days in the 1950s.
Mr. Webster defines inflation as “an increase in the cost of living as the price of goods and services rise.” We therefore get poorer whenever we spend more money for fewer goods. Simply put, a country’s currency is as valuable only as its buying power.
Imposing higher excise taxes through the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law is now widely perceived to have triggered runaway inflation. It has further deteriorated the value of our currency against the US dollar. Each time we buy a product, we pay an additional 12 percent for value-added tax.
If the value of the Philippine peso has kept pace with the American dollar in the past six decades, this nation could not have lagged behind. Today’s generation will be surprised to learn that our money was valued at two pesos to a dollar in the 1950s; has deteriorated to 54 pesos to a dollar today.
Elected President of the new Philippine Republic in 1946, Manuel Roxas vowed to catapult the country to economic supremacy in Asia.
In the 1950s, the Philippines was second only to Japan in Asia in economic growth. (China was then known as “the sleeping giant”). The minimum wage was only P120 per month, but it was worth much more than today’s P12,000.
A Filipino-Chinese businessman in Iloilo City once told me that even in the 1960s, the Philippines was still way ahead of Taiwan. One peso at that time was worth seven Taiwan dollars. Today, the NTD (New Taiwan Dollar) is stronger than the Philippine peso; it’s 0.58 NTD to one peso.
President Carlos P. Garcia – whose term covered the 1957-61 period – restricted imports of products that were locally available and encouraged the manufacturing sector to export whenever possible.
An Ilonggo entrepreneur responded to the challenge by putting up a canning industry which canned home-style
After Garcia came President Diosdado Macapagal, who imposed “de-control” – a policy that pegged price ceilings on basic commodities, thus minimizing monetary inflation.
It was when President Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law in 1972 that the economy came tumbling down as a result of external pressure and onset of the global oil crisis.
The assassination of Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino in 1983 saw the sudden downfall of the Philippine peso – from seven to 13 pesos against one US dollar, igniting economic downtrend.
The bloodless People Power revolution that installed Cory Aquino to the presidency in 1986 could have given the United States and our Asian neighbors an “excuse” to condone our external debt. But Aquino declined, probably out of pride.
She must have thought of steering the country a la South Korea, which by then was already marshaling its technocrats to develop industrial zones.
Unfortunately, millions of Filipinos today – whether skilled or unskilled – have to work abroad to keep their loved ones at home well-fed and comfortable.
It is ironic that, in our country that is rich in population (106 million) and natural resources, we cite “lack of capital” as excuse for indolence. We even turn our backs on idle pasture lands where we could have raised cattle, goats, hogs and other livestock. (hvego31@gmail.com/PN)
