Through it all – earthquakes, floods, typhoons and corruption scandals – the Philippine economy somehow manages to maintain its growth track.
By most forecasts, we are expected to grow our GDP by 5.5 percent this year. That is lower than the range our economic team targeted, but it is higher than most other ASEAN economies.
According to the forecast, the Philippine economy will be the second best growth performer in the region. We are significantly behind Vietnam’s expected seven percent growth rate.
That said, 2026 might be a slower year for our economy. The cancellation of a substantial portion of public spending for infrastructure (all flood control projects are suspended) translates into a drop in public investments that will have ripple effects on other parts of the economy. Recall how our growth performance dropped sharply in 2011 after the Aquino II administration drastically cut back on infra spending.
All the corruption that accompanied our infra spending magnifies a vital point of our economy’s weakness. Compared to our neighbors, we suffer from an infrastructure crisis. Therefore, we have a weak logistics backbone that keeps costs of production and transport high. In turn, that makes our exports uncompetitive and transforms us into an import-dependent economy.
To say our economy is consumption-led is an understatement. The share of manufactures has been shrinking. Our agriculture is like a zombie.
With nearly stagnant productivity, it is understandable that our wages (high in comparison to some of our neighboring economies) are rapidly falling behind inflation. Well into the next generation, inadequate wages will continue to push the migration of some of our best workers.
Building infrastructure is not one of our best traits. The MRT central station, for instance, is 15 years delayed and it took a whole decade to complete two additional stations for the LRT-2. During this period when we grappled with delay, China built over 40,000 kilometers of rapid rail systems.
Vietnam has been feverishly building up its infra. It will continue to lead the ASEAN bloc in growth for years ahead. A couple of years ago, Vietnam eclipsed us in per capita income. Not bad for a nation ravaged by decades-long war.
The past few days, we have been having this unseemly debate about how much market capitalization is evaporating from our stock exchange.
The SEC chairman mistakenly quoted a social media report that says we lost P1.7 trillion in market cap last August alone. The Palace corrected him and rightly put the lost market cap at ‘only’ about P187 billion.
Then late last week a former BSP executive claimed that from December 2024 to October 2025, the PSE lost up to P5 trillion in market value. The PSE issued a rejoinder saying our stock exchange’s market capitalization was down ‘only’ 1.88 percent or P273.26 billion during this period.
But what are we doing to reverse this destructive trend to regain the capital we need to grow our economy?
Meow
Congressman Francisco ‘Kiko’ Barzaga Jr. – all of 27 years-old – has become a celebrity of sorts the past few weeks – mainly for being adamantly unserious.
He begins and closes his interviews by saying ‘Meow, Meow.’ He has been relentless in arguing that former speaker Martin Romualdez is principally responsible for messing with the national budget and laying the grounds for the staggering public works scandal we now see. The last few days, he has been a leading voice calling for President Marcos Jr. to resign. He is even threatening to pursue and impeachment complaint against Marcos.
While nearly the entire membership of the House of Representatives chose to maintain a lower profile in the face of public uproar over the looting of public funds intended for infrastructure, Barzaga is all over the place. He makes bold statements on the corruption controversy.
Barzaga’s bizarre antics polarized opinion about what he does.
The young legislator’s admirers praise him for his courage and think he employs tactics suitable for this age of social media where so many voices compete for attention. He has been able to cut through the cacophony of our multi-media environment simply by being bizarre.
His critics bemoan what they perceive as his clowning. They think he has reduced the serious problems plaguing the country into a running comedy. A few weeks ago, some of his colleagues decided to file a complaint against him at the House ethics committee for unruly behavior.
When the committee convened to hear the case, Barzaga arrived very late, blaming a late night spent playing video games. The excuse left the members of the committee stunned.
He had another late night last Sunday when he led a motley group of protestors that massed up at the gates of Forbes Park, the most exclusive exclave where wealthy politicians associated with the public works scandal reside. There he repeated his call for Marcos Jr. to resign.
If it was simply public attention that he craves, Barzaga has surely won it. His most ardent admirers claim his antics is the Gen Z way of getting a message across.
His critics, on the other hand, say we deserve a better level of eloquence to dissect the serious problems confronting the nation. The young congressman is a walking meme rather than a well-studied exposition, a stand-up comedian rather than an eminent statesman.
However much some might disagree, he threatens to persist in what he does.