The Republic of the Philippines is can be found in Southeast Asia and the Capital city of the country is Manila. Philippines has been growing steadily over the last few decades and is one of the largest economies in the world (IMF report). However, it is not one of the Asian Tigers or the Group of 20 nations. Although the Philippines has a large agricultural sector, the services sector has over the years dominated the economy. There are Several Economics problems in the Philippines, one of the major of it is the imbalance of imports and exports, which affects those involved in trade and who live off of the overseas sale of goods.Due to this imbalances family surviving of like incomes worry about whether they will eat for the week, So this is the reason why the Some of the Families in the Country is still poor. This Study will Determine the Differences of Philippine Economy between The 2010 Former President Benigno Aquino III Administration and Current President Rodrigo Duterte Administration and the changes over the years.
3 years ago Before the year of 2010 wherein the year of Benigno Aquino was selected as The Philippine President, The Philippine competitiveness levels continue to rise and international credit rating agencies have granted the nation investment grade status; funds are still being located for infrastructure to attract foreign investor. With its impressive economic growth in recent years, the country continues to invest in social protection services and development programs that are aimed at achieving inclusive growth. Under the Aquino administration it says that The Country’s economy is experiencing the fastest growth since in its leadership and the reforms it has instituted in critical areas of governance have strengthened it.
Philippine Economic Growth in 2012 and the first quarter of 2013 was higher that recorded in 2011. The Philippines experienced sustained growth in its GDP in 2012 and the First quarter of 2013 increased by 7.8% over the growth of 3.6% in 2011.
Table 1 : Computed by rapple.com
Based on the table shown, The Growth rate in the First Quarter in 2011 was 4.6%. Moving to the First Quarter in 2012 the Growth rate was increased by 6.5%. And to the First Quarter of 2013 the Growth rate was Increased into 7.8%. The Government Targets were 6% to 7% growth in 2013, However this results was better than the 7.1% surge recorded in the previous three months. In 2012, the economy was climbed 6.8%. Under the Aquino Administration,The Economy grew faster at the end of the first quarter of 2013 than during the whole of 2012, and faster than Thailand, China, Vietnam during the same period. According to Socioeconomic Planning Secretay Aeenio Balisacan, The Philippines Growth was the highest in East and Southeast Asia.
However, Although The Philippines has experienced rapid economic growth, Creating jobs remains a challenging issue with millions of new entrants annually.
Table 1.2 : Computed by rapple.com
The Table shown the Computation of GPD:Labor. It shows that the rate in 3rd Quarter was 2.71%. and Increased at the 1st Quarter of 2011 with the rate of 2.92%. Moving to 1st Quarter of 2012 from 2.92% in last year Quarters, It decreased and resulting to 2.83%. In the 3rd Quarter of 2010 it increased again by 2.84%. and In the 1st Quarter of 2013 the rate results to 2.89%
According to National Statistics Office, In January 2013, the country’s unemployment rate barely changed from 7.2% in the same period in the year 2012 to 7.1%. In January, 2.89 million Filipinos were without work, up from 2.76 million in October, 7.93 million underemployed Filipinos and those seeking additional hours of work rose as well. However, According to Balisacan, The number of jobs is not the major problem, High Quality work in the Philippines is still far from being achieved. As the result of Job shortage, Balicasan also said that poverty incidence in the country hasn’t improve much.
The Government also prioritizes agriculture as a growth sector since it maximizes the country’s resources and creates opportunities for rural development.A total revenue of P352.5 billion was earned by agriculture in the first quarter of 2013—an increase of 3.33 percent over last year. All subsectors produced more.
Palay and corn crops contributed 3.62% more production in 2013 as a result of 54.1% of total agricultural production, according to USDA data.
A total of P54.3 billion was generated through livestock production at current prices, an increase of 9.07 percent from 2012. Livestock production increased by 0.32 percent.
Fisheries provided the highest growth rate among the subsectors ,growing by 5.6% in production. It grossed P59.9 billion, up 9.86% from the previous year.
Moving on to the Year 2016, after the President Benigno Aquino III Finishes his Presidential Years, President Rodrigo Duterte is being selected as new President of the Philippines with more than 15,000,000 votes.
Under the President Duterte Administration, imports, including basic food, consumer goods, and building materials, became increasingly important to the economy. Despite not providing adequate protection or support to local industries, many of our local industries such as aquaculture, fishing, leather goods, clothing, jewelry, wood products, and creative industries have since disappeared. Duterte became the federal leader of the Philippines through his 22-year term as mayor of Davao. His administration generated higher GNP growth, lower crime rates, and fewer bureaucracies than his predecessors.
Unfortunately, Duterte prioritized more the guns than the butter. The ferociousness of the drug war provoked criticism from the UN, the Vatican even the Human rights. Nearly none came from the international economic grade keepers.
The economy grew by 7.1% in 2016, just two years after Rodrigo Duterte took office, handing off from his predecessor Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino III.
Table 2 : Computed by CNN ph
The Table shown that the rate 7.1% in 2016 was down by a percentage in the 6.9% in the year 2017. As the year goes, the rate keep decreasing from 6.1% in 2019 it drops to -9.6% in the year 2020. To Conclude everything, Under Duterte Administration, The Philippines economy over the years is keep worsen.
According to the annual gross domestic product (GDP) or state-related output, the economy grew at a slower pace in 2019 on the back of low infrastructure spending amid budget deficits.
In this Year , Filipinos expecting that the Philippines Economic will be better in 20CNN Philippines holds a Interview to talk about the Economic output. One of the Interviewee ,The Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) states “Infrastructure development has been the focus of the Duterte administration since it started,” “However, the Build, Build, Build program hit a roadblock in 2019 amid the budget impasse in Congress, thereby delaying the implementation of projects.” BPI research Team added. They are expecting a lot of Improvements in year 2020.
However, A big challenging crisis was Occur in the 2020. The Global COVID-19 pandemic was already come in the Country and things went down hill. In response to the epidemic, countries cut their borders and restricted movement, leading to disruptions in supply chains and economic collapses.
Despite loosening quarantine measures later on in the year, the Philippines’ economy contracted by 9.6% in 2020 as COVID-19 jitters hurt consumer confidence and business.Since postwar data in 1946, this was the steepest decline on record.
However, When the Pandemic Strikes in the Country, There are everywhere Issue’s that have been Popping around in the social medias. One of the Hottest Issue is the Debt of the Philippines. According to the Bureau of the Treasury, the Philippines’ government debt amount reached a new high in February, totaling P10.405 trillion as more were borrowed to fund the coronavirus pandemic response.The total debt stock is 29% external, while 71% is domestic.Several administrations accumulated the P10.4-trillion debt, which wasn’t accumulated by President Rodrigo Duterte’s government exclusively.A 6.2% increase in the country’s total debt in the first two months of 2021 compared with end-2020 is the result of the pandemic shutting down businesses, lowering tax collections and government revenue. Philippines’ 2021 budget stands at 4.5 trillion pesos, according to the government’s economic managers. Revenues for 2021 are projected to be only P2.88 trillion.
This Table will show the National outstanding debt under the Duterte administration and one year after the pandemic onset
If these issues aren’t addressed, the incoming administration will face a widening deficit and mounting debt. As a result, the economy would expand at a slower rate, infrastructure spending would decline, and public services would suffer. Another option would be to sink deeper into debt or devalue the currency.The next administration will have to work twice as hard to restore the economy and balance the budget.
Adding that It should be enough time for Duterte to slowly raise the nation’s healthcare game. His 18 months spent battling Covid-19 have prepared him and his team to devise basic vaccine plans and deal with vaccine hesitancy.There are many structural obstacles to this, of course. For instance, the government has long trusted local officials to create public health networks, not Manila. Nevertheless, Duterte’s nation of 108 million people lags behind Cape Verde and Paraguay in vaccination rates and Testing and contract-tracing methods are poorly funded and poorly organized.
In General, Under the Aquino Administration ,From 2010 to 2016, President Aquino forged a path to change a long-neglected economy. Rather than focus on growing faster, he sought to grow better.Tax evaders and graft winners were prosecuted, accountability and transparency were increased, and huge building and construction projects were scrutinized.The Philippines earned its first investment trade credit rating from Fitch Ratings in 2013 followed by ratings from Moody’s Investor Service and S&P Global. As Manila’s economy grew, foreign direct investment zoomed to the capital in a bid to enhance the city’s reputation as one of the region’s emerging stars.The Tables Shown is the proof of Great Increasing Growth Economy for the last ten years. However, As the years Goes by, When Philippine Netizen Selected The New President Under the Duterte Administration, The Philippine Economy seems to continue doing great. Unfortunately,The Philippines witnessed a drop in economic competitiveness, economic freedom, justice and rule of law, and gender equality post our peak in 2015, 2016, and 2017. One of the major problems of why the Economy keeps dropping is cause by deterioration of the country’s finances. even before the pandemic began, the situation had reached “concerning levels” only with government’s most restrictive lockdown in the world. And because of this cases, Philippines Debt was worsening year by year. Noticing the Changes of Economic Growth under from these Two Presidents. Aquino Administrative does Do well in Economy compared to Duterte Administrative As the years goes by, From Doing Great ,The Economy Drops unexpectedly and still keeps dropping until 2020.