Since more than two decades past, the Philippines has never faced a better chance than today of finally breaking out of its perennial condition of poverty, inequity, and lagging human development.
In economic terms, the country's external payments and international credit position have not been healthier in decades for various reasons. Thanks to overseas remittances, surpluses on current account have been run consistently since 2003. After decades of trade reform, the industrial structure is now fairly undistorted by subsidies and heavy protection. The currency is stable and perhaps even too strong and inflation has been low to moderate for more than a decade. Lastly, the country is emerging relatively unscathed from the worst global economic downturn since the 1930s.
Even politically, there have been positive developments: the country has managed a peaceful constitutional transition through a popularly elected government; financial and political sovereignty vis-à-vis creditor and other nations has never been greater; civil liberties and political rights continue to be asserted and exercised even in the face of brutal assaults; agrarian reform, the country's most ambitious attempt at asset reform, is due to be completed; and efforts to resolve armed conflicts finally and peacefully are under way.
To be sure, immediate problems and obstacles remain, chief of which are the country's lagging rate of investment, the government's continuing fiscal constraints and heavy debt burden, the country's poor quality of infrastructure, and stagnating levels of human capital. But many of these phenomena have existed long before and are in the nature of consequences rather than causes. Undeniable is the fact that some hopeful conditions have emerged, and that economic and political opportunities now exist for a real change - a break-away from the cycle of mass poverty, social division, and political conflict that have been the hallmarks of the country's recent history.
The true paradox is why the nation has been unable to step forward even under improving conditions.
This Plan is built on the conviction that such obstacles can be cleared and the above historic task accomplished in this lifetime through the prudent marshalling of available resources, the participation and support by all sectors, and through government and citizens living out and practising the country's best civic ideals. Without the wise application of resources, social cohesion, and good governance, little can come of even the best-laid plans, and another window of opportunity will have closed for this generation of Filipinos.
Nor should it be forgotten that today's chances were purchased by past sacrifices: by overseas workers who endured separation from their families; by laborers and farmers who experienced wrenching structural changes; by the middle class and other taxpayers who shouldered the debt burdens of the past; by government personnel who soldiered on professionally despite the rot surrounding them; and by the brave and vigilant citizenry who never lost faith in constitutional values, democratic processes, and the possibility of an honest government.
Such sacrifices can be repaid only by demonstrable success in our time. Neither the past nor future generations will forgive the present if it fails in its pursuit of inclusive growth.