MANILA, August 6, 2012-At a briefing conducted by the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) to senators in preparation for the 2013 budget hearings, Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan pushed for the benchmarking of per-capita income data between the Philippines and other ASEAN countries as a way to gauge the impact of government programs.
Pangilinan specifically requested for per-capita income information between “ten, fifteen years ago” and today to determine if the Philippines “is moving forward or running in place.”
“We don’t operate in a vacuum; we operate in the context of our neighbors and our would-be competitors,” Pangilinan pointed out. “We need to see if we are trailing behind our neighbors and if our programs are helping us move forward. Are we really hitting the bull’s eye in terms of addressing what has to be addressed? Otherwise, we just might be running in place.”
NEDA Chief Arsenio Balisacan confirmed that “The Philippines trails [behind] the other nations.” He cited Vietnam’s gross domestic product (GDP) as having grown by seven percent since 2000, while population growth was at roughly two percent, bringing per capita growth to five percent.
“Indonesia is now past us; by now they are much higher by five hundred dollars per person [in terms of per capita income]. Thailand was almost the same as the Philippines in the mid-1980s, but their per capita income is now twice [larger] than us.” Balisacan said.
Pangilinan asked that the figures be submitted to the Senate’s Budget Committee for benchmarking, to determine the effectiveness of government programs. He also recommended that comparative figures be presented in terms of job generation.
“The reason why I’m raising this is that if we view our country as lagging behind, then we’re obviously doing something wrong, or we’re not doing enough. That would justify why we have to put the money into [the programs we want to push for], because we need to do things differently.”
The lawmaker reiterated, “This is something for the DBCC to think about. Ultimately, this is about improving the quality of life of our citizens. Are we moving forward, or we moving in place, or are we lagging behind?”
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Franklin Drilon carried the proposal and requested the DBCC to provide the said data.
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