IMF impressed with PH economic performance, policies – Speaker

MANILA – House Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez on Friday, May 12 met with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission members to brief them on the pro-poor reforms being implemented by the administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to ensure that no one will be left behind in the country’s postpandemic economic recovery.

During their meeting at the Manila Golf and Country Club in Makati City, Romualdez said IMF mission chief Jay Peiris told the House team that everything in the Philippine economy “is going in the right direction.”

“Philippine economy is solid, though the country should be ready to respond to any shock,” Romualdez said, quoting the IMF official.

“From our discussions, I could confidently say that the IMF mission members were impressed with the Philippines' economic performance and the government's economic agenda. They expressed confidence that the Philippines will continue to grow strongly in the years ahead,” he added.

The IMF mission members also noticed that government policies are meant to ensure sustained economic growth would benefit ordinary Filipinos. Other IMF mission members present were Resident Representative Ragnar Gudmundsson, Senior Economist Yinqiu Lu, and Economist Tristan

Hennig.

Romualdez, on the other hand, was joined in the meeting by Representative Stella Quimbo and House Secretary General Reginald Velasco.

The IMF keeps a regular policy dialogue with the governments of its member countries. It assesses economic conditions and recommends policies that enable sustainable growth. The IMF also monitors regional and global economic and financial developments.

“I am grateful to the IMF mission members for their visit and I look forward to a more insightful and productive collaboration with them in the future,” Romualdez said.

The meeting came barely a day after the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) announced a higher-thanexpected growth of 6.4 percent in the first quarter of 2023.

NEDA Chief, Director General Arsenio Balisacan, said the country outperformed Indonesia (5 percent), China (4.5 percent) and Vietnam (3.3 percent).

The Philippine growth rate was also higher than first-quarter expansion forecasts for Malaysia (4.9 percent), India (4.6 percent) and Thailand (2.8 percent).

Economy in good hands

Romualdez said Marcos is managing the economy well, as shown by the “higher-thanexpected” growth in the first quarter.

He assured Filipinos that the country’s economy would remain on the high-growth path.

The economy, he said, expanded by 7.6 percent in the third quarter and 7.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022, when the economy started to reopen and recover from the pandemic.

He pointed out that the highgrowth quarters of 2022 and the first quarter of this year are the first nine months of the Marcos administration.

“The average economic expansion during that period is 7.07 percent, which is a respectable growth rate that is slightly higher than the median of last year’s growth target of 6.5 percent and 7.5 percent. So, the economy is in good hands,” he said.

Romualdez noted that the 6.4 percent growth in the first quarter is almost in the middle of this year’s expansion goal of 6 percent to 7 percent.

“So, our first-quarter growth rate is within target,” he said.

“The Philippines was the star economic performer in the first quarter among ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) members, plus China and India.”

Romualdez said the national government is expected to ramp up spending, especially in infrastructure and social services.

“The government will be the lead driver of economic activities and job and income generation,” he said. (PNA)

Weeping again over onions

THE onion jokes during the Christmas 2022 season have not yet receded from memory, but it seems the government has forgotten and lessons have not been learned.

Last year, agricultural organizations warned that onion production was down and white onions in particular could disappear by the third quarter. When white onions, needed mostly by institutional users for fastfood items such as pizza, burgers and onion fries run out, the switch to red onions affects the supply and prices of the crop.

Agricultural producers, who noted a drop in onion production due to various factors including high fertilizer prices, urged the government to make timely onion importations to ensure sufficient supply especially during the fourth quarter when demand traditionally goes up due to the holidays. But the Department of Agriculture, rocked by a scandal involving sugar importations, blew hot and cold on importing onions of whatever color or variety. By Christmas, red onion prices were skyrocketing, hitting P700 to P750 a kilo, and still there were no white onions for bistek and sisig

The white onions finally arrived and all onion prices began softening only after the holidays. During the Holy Week break this year, red onions were being sold for P80 to over P100 a kilo depending on the quality of the produce and

From My Point of View

IN my book, mothers are the great heroes of humankind. We are nothing without mothers who bear their children as potential hopes of every nation and as future heroes for their heroic deeds.

Mothers carry their child for nine months in their wombs. And when they finally give birth, they suffer labor pains and risk their lives for us – their children. And when for extreme medical reasons, they miscarry their unborn child, they suffer mental anguish for that loss. Such is the agony of mothers. And during our formative years, our mothers nurture us relentlessly until we can stand on our own.

I’m reminded of our Lord Jesus when he saw His Mother Mary near the cross and said, “Woman behold your son!” In turn, he said to his disciple, “Behold your mother! And from that hour the disciple took her into his care (John 19:25-29). I can just imagine how Mother Mary had agonized when she witnessed the suffering of her own son during His crucifixion and death.

Since we are celebrating Mother’s Day on May 14, I pay tribute to my own mother, Silvina Ramos Estabillo-Nino whose unconditional love and sacrifices for her children knows no bound. My mother, a daughter of a Landlord from Mangatarem, location of the retailer. This week, however, monitoring by the Department of Agriculture itself showed that onion prices are going up again. Prices in several markets in Metro Manila have surged to P200 a kilo, and ranged from P160 to P190 in other areas. Grilled by lawmakers on Thursday, May 11, DA officials said they had not yet placed import orders.

Rosendo So, president of farmers’ group Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura, who had warned of the onion crisis last year, said white onions should start arriving by August when supplies grown domestically run out. The onion harvest is completed in Northern Luzon although it is still ongoing in Mindoro. So said the bulk of the onion harvest is now in the hands of traders.

Consumers have not yet seen relief from skyhigh prices of sugar, which have stubbornly resisted supposed measures being implemented to bring down prices. Food inflation – the biggest contributor to the country’s current high inflation – is driven mostly by the prices of confectionery and other sweetened food items. The last thing consumers need at this time is to weep again over the high prices of onions. (Philstar.com)

Pangasinan was the second child in a brood of eight. Born on Feb. 18, 1921, she was the first sibling to graduate from college at Dagupan Junior College, now University of Pangasinan. From stories I hear from the elders, her paternal grandpa did not really push his grandkids to be college educated because they have large farmlands anyway to be cultivated to get their rice and produce. Still, my mother and her five siblings attended college. Two were not interested to pursue college education because of that idea that they won’t get hungry after all because of the land they till.

Spanish colonizers did not encourage education in the 19th century because of fear of turning the subjugated population rise up against Spain if they are wellenlightened. It was only the turn of the century when American Thomasite teachers inculcated the value of education to their new subjects.

My mother met my father when she was in high school in Lingayen Provincial High School. That was the only high school then in those years in our province. They both pursued their education through college and became professionals: my mom became an elementary teacher and dad a trial lawyer, politician and eventually a Chief Prosecutor of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) at the National Office in Quezon City.

Mothers are paramount to our well-being while fathers have other pivotal roles. Let me count the ways:

My mother’s presence when I was in distress was magical. When I had my first dental extraction in my boyhood, I held her hand while my tooth was being extracted. She was there all throughout the ordeal. I survived the pain and agony with her comforting and reassuring presence. Second, when I suffered Urticaria with severe stomach pain accompanied by skin rash and welts due to allergic reaction during my elementary days, I asked somebody in the household to summon my mother from the school she was teaching nearby that I was in pain. She immediately rushed home. Her presence, comforting words and empathy were therapeutic. Miraculously, the pain disappeared. Third, when I was picked up by a squad of military men from Military Intelligence Security Group (MISG) headed by new PMA graduate Lt. Arturo Lomibao who became general and PNP chief -- from our Quezon City home at 2 a.m. My beloved mother held my hand tightly before I was escorted to the military jeep in the dead of the night. The next morning, she went to Quiapo Church accompanied by my kid brother Ramon and kneeled her way to the altar to pray for my release from custody in Camp Crame. I was brought to a safehouse blindfolded somewhere in the East, most likely Mandaluyong, Pasig or Marikina where I was physically and mentally tortured while my hands were handcuffed and tied to a chair for 10 hours. They tried to feed me but did not have the appetite due to so much body pain, stress and agony.

I believe, my mom’s fervent prayers saved me. Because at 8 p.m. I was released and survived the torture and drove me back to our home. For four months, my lungs were in pain and had a hard time breathing. She also accompanied me to Camp Crame once a week to report. After one month I stopped reporting.

My dear mother never scolded me, uttered harsh word nor laid her hands on me. She was so patient and nurturing despite my annoying ways, imperfection and going out of bounds.

I still vividly remember when I was 5 years old, she brought me to her classroom. Perhaps, due to boredom, I made paper planes and threw them to fly while her class was on-going. But I didn’t hear any harsh words. She just admonished me gently to stop.

Perhaps to be disciplined, I found myself enrolled at an exclusive Catholic school to start my kindergarten in Dagupan City, about an hour by bus from our native town of Mangatarem. The school, Blessed Imelda Academy now named Dominican School was run then by American nuns.

I stayed in the city five days a week and go home to our town every Friday afternoon aboard a Pantranco bus. I stayed in a boarding house with 12 rooms owned by my parents but mostly rented by college students. My mom also taught me how to read, write and type using all my fingers. My favorite comic strips then were Nancy, Mutt & Jeff and Tarzan. I also read

Pilipino Komiks to hone my Tagalog.

My dear mother was so thrilled and delighted to see me after five years sowing my seed in California when I visited her for the first time. She was already in front of our Quezon City home with her hands stretched to hug her eldest son with tears of joy streaming from her cheeks. Despite my faults, my dear mother did not give up on me. She was my protector, savior, refuge, consoling person and confidante. I can still feel her presence in my dreams.

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The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Asian Journal, its management, editorial board and staff.

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