A national conference of Social Market Economy as a guiding framework for the future Federal Republic of the Philippines had gathered individuals and experts to discuss the ideologies and the possible application of its principles in the Philippine setting.
Organized by the Centrist Democracy Political Institute or CDPI, the national conference and workshop towards a Social Market Economy framework was held on October 21 in City Garden Grand, Makati City. The objective of the conference is to assess the Philippine economy, go over the critical challenges for Social Market Economy under a Federal System, to make a blueprint of the Philippine-style SME, and develop a draft policy statement towards SME.
In a forum on federalism I attended last week, some 50 experts on autonomy, governance and federalism came together for the first time to exchange experiences and perspectives. The idea was to present an opportunity for Filipinos and other nationalities, especially the policy makers dealing with various societal and political problems, to learn from each other. What crossed my mind in this forum and another conference I attended subsequently on market economy was that a change in the political and economic structure of our government is urgently needed. The clock is ticking fast and unless progress and growth become inclusive in a bottom-up process, there might be a violent collapse of the Philippine economy.
A symposium on Mindanao issues and federalism has gathered experts, conveners, and University of the Philippines alumna and students in an afternoon filled with compelling discussions and delightful sharing of political opinions.
The move to introduce changes in the 1987 Constitution via a Constituent Assembly (Con-Ass) has begun to snowball in the House of Representatives (HOR).
This, after two House Deputy Speakers in Cebu-3rd district Rep. Gwen Garcia and Batangas 2nd district Rep. Raneo Abu both withdrew their respective measures calling for a Constitutional Convention (Con-Con), which was the other popular mode for Charter change (Cha-cha) among congressmen.
How is it that the six-year reign of the Liberal Party-dominated former PNoy administration could dazzle the economic growth figures but retain the same poverty levels and a relatively inactive labor force resulting from inadequate jobs, low-paying jobs, “endo” jobs, etc.? Given our youthful demographics and the very large numbers of new working-age youth numbering about a million joining the labor force every year, certainly, root causes have to be traced and solutions have to be found urgently.
The Centrist Democracy Political Institute conducted regular round table discussion on “Pursuing Federalism: A Shift from Presidential-Unitary to Federal-Parliamentary Government” to key leaders of the cooperatives last 25 September 2016 at the Tourist’s Inn, Tagum City.
Where does economic value added really come from? A good economist will tell you that value added ultimately comes from human ideas, which in turn come from learning based on actual results, what is fashionably termed now as “evidence-based.” And what is the mother of all inventions? Necessity.