LET’S IMAGINE for a few moments that the Philippines is insurgency free, meaning 99.9% no longer inflicted with this more than 50-year-old communist insurgency nonsense.
What comes to mind would be a parallel in terms of economic progress and respectability with Singapore or at the very least Indonesia, meaning we are no longer the flavor of the month of these leftists / so-called human rights advocates from Europe / “United Nations” who gatecrash anytime, demanding for the repeal of the Anti-Terrorism Law and the abolition of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).
I suppose economic progress is very much doable with a stable peace and order scenario and we’re getting to it much sooner than later.
The “sticky” part would be getting rid of those politicians who’s first order of the day when they assume office is “in aid of re-election”.
We need political leaders who put the country first and not politicians who put themselves first.
We are fortunate that the current president’s predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, left the country in good hands and a relatively stable state.
Love him or hate him, there is no denying during his watch that the Anti-Terrorism Law and the NTF-ELCAC were the needed missing ingredient to finally end this insurgency nonsense.
And if you’re fully vaccinated, mask-free and enjoying your Caffe Latte in some coffeeshop, it’s because the “much-maligned” Duterte saved us from COVID-19.
Moving on, two years into the watch of President Bongbong Marcos Jr., what was once 89 active guerilla fronts, the AFP/ NTF-ELCAC successfully dismantled 78, reducing their strength to just 11 weakened fronts.
Despite this irritating nonsense, the administration of President BBM was able to achieve a lot. Imagine what can be more accomplished free of the irritation.
Check out these out:
The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) reported the approval of P2.845-billion investments for March.
PEZA Director General Tereso Panga said the approval of the investments reflected the agency’s bullishness to attract more investments this year under the Marcos administration.
It is 21.8 percent higher than in the same period last year at P2.343 billion.
In 2023, the Philippines achieved a high investment rate – 25 percent growth, or P175.7 billion, increasing from P140.7-billion base figure in 2022. Last year, it posted 25 percent increase to P175.7 billion.
All PEZA’s current indicators are up for exports and employment, manifesting the Philippines’ upward trajectory for 2024, something to be expected for the year and onwards because of its excellent gross domestic product (GDP) performance since 2022.
The Philippines happens to have the highest GDP growth rate in ASEAN since 2022, three years in a row now. That makes the Philippines one of the best performing economies in the region.
Incidentally, President Marcos Jr. maintains a high approval rating. The latest Social Weather Stations survey showed 65 percent of adult Filipinos are satisfied with his performance as President.
Meanwhile, under the watch of Mayor Jerry Treñas, “I Am Iloilo City” has been insurgency-free for almost a decade. Without the irritation the Ilonggos concentrated in improving their lives and uplifting the city.
Iloilo City is the country’s Top 4 Overall Most Competitive Highly Urbanized City (HUC) and Top 1 outside the National Capital Region (NCR).
It is one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the Philippines for 2023.
It has been declared a Creative City of Gastronomy by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) Creative Cities Network, the first city from the Philippines to be designated as such.
Of course, Iloilo proudly stands as the fourth richest city in terms of GDP outside Metro Manila.
Finally, insurgency-free means the Frappuccino-infused “useful idiots” in the University of the Philippines can concentrate on being “eskolar ng bayan” and not pseudo communists, while the usual suspects in Congress will no longer be there to undermine the government using government resources, hopefully./PN
