Charles Teves
Minimal Government Thinkers president Bienvenido S. Oplas Jr. doesn’t see any reason for Filipinos to celebrate following the release of the new statistical data on unemployment which only saw a small improvement.
The Philippine Statistics Authority’s (PSA) latest report indicates that unemployment has improved to 10 percent in July from the abysmal 17.7 in April.
Statistically, the figures shouldn’t excite Filipinos since neighboring countries “did not even experience double-digit unemployment rates both in the first and second quarters of 2020.”
“Even compared to European countries and North-South American countries that experienced 400+ COVID-19 deaths per million population (CDPMP), the Philippines, with only 36 CDPMP, has an ‘outlier’ unemployment experience,” he wrote in a featured article.
Oplas highlighted the country’s tendency to indulge in “wasteful spending” and the previous administration’s success in achieving an outstanding public debt stock of P6 trillion which plummeted from 2017 to 2019 under Duterte’s rule. From 2019 to early 2022, the government borrowed P361 billion, P421 billion, P531 billion, and 604 billion, respectively.
“The higher excise tax in petroleum products of P6/liter under the TRAIN law of 2017 has brought extra revenues of P30 billion/year to the government yet it sparked inflationary pressures and some political discontent in 2018-2019. But interest payments of P361 billion in 2019 — 12 times that of oil tax hike revenues — has not sparked any serious political discontent because the amount looks “abstract” despite its size.” he noted.
Oplas said that the lockdowns and borrowing of huge sums do not seem to impact the public positively. Small businesses closing down also worsen unemployment.
“This is similar to a bully who crippled an innocent person then gives him a wheelchair and says that the crippled person should thank the bully for the opportunity to move around via wheelchair,” he said.
Oplas urged business owners to avoid fully relying on the government for assistance given all the restrictions and guidelines in place.
“Consumers and entrepreneurs cannot expect meaningful assistance from the government’s higher spending and borrowings. They are the wrong remedies for the wrong policies (strict, indefinite, no timetable lockdowns).”
Oplas believes that entrepreneurship should be promoted and that the government should have less involvement in private enterprise.
“The “animal spirit” of entrepreneurship and innovation must be unleashed. Government should learn to step back, have less regulation, less taxation (thanks to the CREATE bill), less business intervention and arbitrary policy reversals,” he concluded.
