Halalan 2016: A Look at Economic Platforms

Who has a solid financial economic platform?

Corruption has always been a long-standing issue in our country. And we’ve been complaining about it since time immemorial. Although we’ve seen growth in the employment and literacy, as well as in the number of start-up companies, our country still has millions, if not billions, worth of debt from other countries and the World Bank.

But do you know that this Presidential Election 2016 can be the turning point for all these economic issues? How we choose our president affects our economic performance as a country and in relation with other countries. How? These are basically the two reasons presidential election is crucial to the economy:

1. Investors would pour in if they trust the country’s leader.
2. The people are more likely to remit taxes if they’re assured that their money will be spent the right way.

So on a personal level, how can we contribute? Simple. We should vote wisely and choose a trustworthy and efficient president. To get us started, here’s a comparison of the each economic platform of the 5 candidates vying for the presidential seat:

1. Binay, Jejomar Sr.

   Binay plans to implement pro-poor and pro-business policies if he should win the presidential race. He boasts of his achievement as Makati City Mayor and plans to apply the same programs to the entire nation. He’s anti-corruption and graft and seeks to promote professionalism and competence in the government. To help improve the country’s economy, he’s all out on his support for SMEs and private enterprises, as well as foreigner-owned companies.

2. Duterte, Rodrigo

   – Spread economic growth throughout the country and decongest Metro Manila is his campaign promise under economic development. Under this is a constitutional review to study the shift to a federal form of government, maintaining the 4P’s and adding a Livelihood component that will give loans for the poor for small and medium enterprises, establish tourism, agricultural, and industrial hubs in the countryside to create jobs and introduction of P1 Billion “small capital fund”. for every region outside Metro Manila where farmers and other poor workers can borrow from to put up businesses.

3. Poe, Grace

   – “No Filipino or region should be left behind” is Poe’s motto, putting emphasis on growing together as a nation. With this, she’s aiming to launch projects that will benefit the agriculture and agrarian industries to ensure the country’s farms can sustain the people’s consumption. Also, she’s planning to reform the country’s taxation system. Poe also advocates the rights and welfare of OFWs, making sure they get the support they need during tough times. Like the rest of the candidates, Poe emphasizes the need for peace and order, fighting off graft, corruption, and illegal drugs as proactively as she can.

4. Roxas, Mar

   – With his plans to continue outgoing President Aquino’s “Daang Matuwid advocacy,” Roxas aims to identify and dismiss corrupt public officials. Also, he supports the K-12 educational curriculum. His priority lies in the improvement of rural areas, which covers projects for infrastructure development, economic reforms and countryside development.

5. Santiago, Miriam

   – As former judge and Bureau of Immigration and Deportation Commissioner, Santiago strongly fights against corruption, money laundering and graft. Her plan focuses more on how to leverage the recently launched K-12 educational program to encourage the youth to play a role in nation-building.

The aforementioned are only minute details from the platforms they are pushing forward. For thorough perusal of their platforms, make sure that you research to help you decide who to vote for this coming May election, if you are still undecided.

LoansolutionsPH advocates financial literacy and the value of making money-wise decisions. The country’s economy greatly depends on how its elected leader manages the nation’s money. So this coming presidential election might be our chance to redeem ourselves from the long-standing disease that has gripped our country for many years. Let’s be wise in our choice of president. Let’s choose the one who can manage to boost the country’s economic performance and the people’s standard of living.