Ready, really?

RIDING ON the wings of his domain’s recent recognition as the Second Most Competitive (Component) City in the Philippines, Mayor Edwin Santiago last week proclaimed: The City of San Fernando is ready for ASEAN integration.

Wow. Wow. Wow. WOW!

Aghast at Santiago’s bold declaration, biased as I am whenever and wherever he opens his mouth, I struggled – really, really did my darndest – to frame his message as well as its meanings in journalistic objectivity, focused through the clearest lens of disinterested impartiality. Convincing, dramatic effect wished for in that intentional redundancy.

So Santiago believes the city can keep pace with the growing economy of the country, as reported in the Sun-Star Pampanga story.

Said Santiago: "Hindi lang basta-basta tayo gumagawa ng mga proyekto. Lahat pinag-iisipan, mga proyektong pangmatagalan upang tuluy-tuloy ang pag-angat ng ating lokal na ekonomiya (We don’t merely craft projects. We consider everything, long-term projects to sustain the growth of the local economy).”

Of his city’s recognition: "Hindi yan hinihingi, tinatrabaho natin (It’s not for the asking, we worked for it)." Noting the corollary ranking of “third in the government efficiency pillar, fifth in the infrastructure pillar and tenth in the economic dynamism pillar.” The pillars there, we can only assume, as some sort of measurement standards cumulatively gathered to determine the city’s final placement of runner-up in the national most competitive city contest.  

“Empowerment,” Santiago’s current buzzword, naturally takes prime spot in his discourse, credited as “vital key in lifting the economy, boosted by government officials and Fernandinos’ cooperation.”

And the potentials that come with the capital city’s being the center of business in the province are being exploited to the fullest, Santiago stressed.

Even the city’s lack of airport and seaport which are “key factors in competitiveness” can be compensated, Santiago said, by “harnessing competencies in other aspects.” 

And lest it be missed: "Tayo ang sentro ng kulturang Kapampangan (We are the center of Kapampangan culture), the home of arts and crafts and this will be our economic driver to attract more visitors and investors."

"We have lots of existing businesses here. We have the regional offices at patuloy kaming makikipag-ugnayan sa kanila (we are in continuing coordination with them) for a more comprehensive economy as we get set to welcome the ASEAN economic integration."

Being the Philippines’ second most competitive component city, the center of business and Kapampangan culture. Enough for the City of San Fernando to be ready for the ASEAN integration. So believes – and declares – the Honorable Mayor Edwin D. Santiago.

Damn me for my prejudice but I don’t think hizzoner has a full, rational, grasp of what’s rolling out his mouth. His premises – disputable at best – even granted absolute facthood, hold as much water as a sieve.

From readings and briefings:

The ASEAN integration takes the template of the European Union – the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by end of December 2015 aimed at unifying the 10-member nations into: “a single market and production base…a highly competitive economic region…of fair economic development…fully integrated into the global economy.”

The defined areas of cooperation include “human resources development; recognition of professional qualifications; closer consultation on macroeconomic and financial policies; trade financing measures; enhanced infrastructure and communications connectivity; development of electronic transactions through e-ASEAN; integrating industries across the region to promote regional sourcing; and enhancing private sector involvement.”

Only in its express intent, already a mouthful there. More than enough to choke, to smother the Philippines’ 2^nd Most Competitive (Component) City.

The impossibility of a single currency a la the EU’s euro owing to the ASEAN countries varied economies and fiscal systems even set aside, more Gordian Knots remain for the cutting, according to economic experts like former Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno. Most especially for the Philippines. 

Like synchronizing its tax system – notorious for having highest marginal personal income tax rates and one of the highest corporate income tax rates – with the rest of the region, to attract more foreign investors.

Then comes the high cost of doing business in the country and corruption in government. Poor infrastructure and communications, dysfunctional power and utilities likewise.

Entailed here too is greater investment in human capital – not only in the skills and professionalism of workers but in their health and security too.

The neglect of the agriculture sector by the government will deliver one telling blow in the country’s performance in an ASEAN integration. How fares here the Philippines against Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam from where we import our staple food?

“To say that we’re ready for the ASEAN economic integration is like whistling in the dark. ASEAN integration is not going to happen overnight, but the sooner our policy makers address the country’s limitations — and there are many and hard — the better.” We can only agree, totally, with Professor Diokno.

On hindsight now, we did not have to go through that learned digression just to see the sham – no scam now – in Santiago’s declaration that the City of San Fernando is ready for ASEAN integration.

All we have to do is ask: How ready is the City of San Fernando to the floods concomitant to even the most moderate of rains? Rainfall instantly submerging the city to a standstill.

No, Santiago was not riding on the wings of the recognition of San Fernando as the country’s second most competitive component city when he made that proclamation. Looks more like he was riding on a bamboo leaf – macasaque yang bulung cuayan, with all the meanings attendant to that Kapampangan idiom.