Several of the Philippine leader’s choices and programmes echo those of his father, the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. For one, his secretaries for the agrarian reform and migrant workers are scions of the elder Marcos’ ministers.
Marcos Jnr has also taken a page from his father’s playbook as agriculture chief. One of his flagship programmes called Kadiwa – where the state helps sell farm products directly to consumers – was first implemented in the 1980s when Marcos Snr was in power. Also being revived are rice production and food stamp programmes.
Workers plant varieties of rice in Los Banos town, Laguna province, the Philippines. Photo: AFP
Last week, Marcos Jnr signed a law creating a sovereign wealth fund that is a throwback to the strongman. Its name “Maharlika”, the local word often attributed to nobility, is reminiscent of a guerilla unit that the Marcos Snr supposedly led – a claim historians have since debunked.
Still, the president would need to address current challenges including the risk of El Nino rekindling inflation, said Domini Velasquez, chief economist at China Banking Corp.
“Short-term, addressing inflation concerns should still be top priority,” Velasquez said, adding the risk of prices going up remained. The government should also accelerate its infrastructure push to improve logistics, reduce costs and lower constraints to businesses, she said.
A worker pulls a cart of snack products at a market in Marikina City, Metro Manila. Tackling inflation concerns is among the key priorities for Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr. Photo: EPA-EFE
Reforming the military’s pension system was another priority for Marcos Jnr, Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said. The nation risked a “fiscal collapse” if the state continued to fully fund soldiers’ pensions, finance chief Benjamin Diokno earlier warned.
This reform is among the 20 measures the administration is targeting to pass in Congress. Other legislative priorities include taxing internet transactions, improving the ease of paying taxes, and amending the bank secrecy law to strengthen checks against tax evasion and money laundering.
A mention of military pension reform, along with measures addressing inflation, in Marcos Jnr’s speech “could provide a signal to the markets that the macroeconomic fundamentals of the Philippine economy may improve”, HSBC Holdings Plc economist Aris Dacanay said.