Our own worst enemy

I can’t help it, but the news that our economy grew even more slowly (at 2.3 percent) than last quarter’s already dismal 2.8 percent gives me a sinking feeling about our country. Seeing a confluence of declines on the economic, political, and environmental fronts along with long-term human development threats on our very social fabric, it’s hard not to be tempted to begin losing hope in our country’s future.

On the economic front, the slide is unmistakable, and every Filipino feels its adverse effects. But the most telling and most disturbing sign of the decline, looking from the spending or demand side, is the steep -13.7 percent fall in total fixed investments (gross fixed capital formation), the third consecutive quarterly drop since late last year. This comprises all fixed investments by both the government and the private sector, and by Filipino and foreign investors alike. It has declined across its key components, i.e., construction, durable equipment, and farm investments (breeding stock and orchard development), which dropped -14.8 percent, -13.6 percent, and -7.6 percent, respectively. This should worry all of us. Fixed investments are most critical, because they’re all about spending that puts in place the ability to produce more in the future. When it falls, as it is falling consistently and steeply now, it presages even weaker growth in the future.

The two other main economic yardsticks of prices and jobs are similarly on a slide. From an average price inflation rate of 1.7 percent in 2025, we are currently averaging a much faster 5 percent in 2026 so far, and the latest in July is even faster at 6.2 percent. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate is rising, having averaged 3.8 percent in 2024, 4.2 percent in 2025, and now 5 percent so far this year. Government finances, foreign direct investments, manufacturing growth, and remittances are similarly on a slide. All told, our economy is in trouble. Worse, the negative trends could be self-reinforcing, and we are in desperate need of drastic measures to turn the economy around. But the decline on the political front I describe below is pushing us in precisely the opposite direction.

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The decline I see on the political front has to do with how election season has already crept up on us, even with the 2028 national elections still almost two years away. We see it in obvious early posturing by our politicians and leaders for 2028, and as always, this compromises good governance and policymaking as they push populist but irresponsible measures that they think will attract votes—never mind that they could do even more harm to an already flagging economy. Examples are recent moves for a hefty minimum wage hike, total elimination of system losses from consumers’ electricity bills, or expansion of unconditional “ayudas” and subsidies. Their proponents seemingly hope to look good to voters, with no regard for who pays for it all. Politicians, it seems, are the last to understand that there is no free lunch—or even if they do, simply don’t care as long as it’s not they who will pay.

On the environment front, the worsening effects of climate change and environmental degradation are evident to all of us, with frequent destructive flooding now a seemingly accepted fact of life even in areas that never saw floods before. The most painful part is that massive funds allocated to address it ended up stuffing suitcases of greedy politicians, bureaucrats, and contractors. Meanwhile, the scandal has all but faded into the background as new “flavors of the month” now occupy the front pages. As for the social and human dimension, I’ve written amply in past columns on our twin and interlinked crises of education and child malnutrition. Suffice it to remind ourselves how these fundamentally threaten our country’s very future.

In writing all this, it’s not my intent to be unduly negativistic or alarmist. I just want us Filipinos, especially our leaders, to wake up. Our troubles are largely self-inflicted; we cannot hide behind the excuse that outside forces are the problem, because our neighbors are doing much better even in the face of all that. We are our own worst enemy. Many have long been convinced that we’ve been left behind by our peers because conscienceless politicians all over the country and at the highest levels persistently put their lust for power and wealth above the common good of the Filipino nation.

If there’s any planning and positioning for 2028 we all ought to be doing now, it is working to make sure that those familiar names whose true colors as self-serving political opportunists have never been clearer for all to see will no longer lord it over our next national elections. Filipinos of right mind and heart, of which I’d like to think there are many enough around us, should be moving even now to find ways to prevent the 2028 election from being the death knell of our very sick nation.

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