Can The "Ang Tanging Ina N'yong Lahat" Of Vice President Leni Loud Robredo Approach Beat COVID-19 And Fix the Economy?

I was thinking about how Leni Loud Robredo is now in her next phase of "Operation Talk-Lang" for COVID-19. Yup, her "Operation Tokhang" against COVID-19 can be questionable on how she intends to do so. I was reading through Get Real Philippines with the ever-clueless Benign0 dares to criticize Leni Loud's plan but the guy still doesn't have his alternatives. I'm just reminded of how CLUELESS Benign0 is and why Orion Perez Dumdum left GRP to start with. A good example is how Benign0 proposed "self-industrialization" because he feels that Filipinos will just waste the money if the Philippines ever gets more open to foreign capital.

Examining the "Tanging Ina" COVID-19 relief approach

Now, it's time to tackle Leni Loud's plan for the COVID-19 "response" and my own personal criticism of what needs to be fixed:

Freedom from worry over getting sick

Public health first

Itigil ang kurapsyon (Stop corruption!)

Itigil ang anumalya (Stop anomalies!)

Compenent COVID response leadership

Support for frontliners

Good pay for frontliners

Support for hospitals

– So that when you get sick, you don’t need to worry.

Free and accessible health care

Free consultation using technology

Each Barangay fully equipped and has its own nurse

Give them all that they need to do their job

Fix PhilHealth

Fast claims processing

Vaccines for all

Government to make it easy to deliver vaccines

Freedom from hunger

Filipinos are worried about where to get food for their children

Whenever there is a lockdown, provide immediate ayuda.

Stop large scale lockdowns

Lockdowns should be “targeted”

Support small businesses

Provide financial support to small businesses so they don’t need to layoff workers

Implement unemployment insurance so that people who lose jobs get help from the government

Strengthen agriculture and fishing sectors

Provide enough support to strengthen the livelihoods of fishermen and farmers

Ensure that every Filipino has food

Freedom from lack of education

For low risk areas, start opening schools

For high risk areas, give gadgets and “load” to each student

Increase the number of community learning hubs

Provide Internet access for education purposes

I'm not saying that Leni Loud is completely wrong. In fact, Leni Loud has targeted some problems. However, Leni Loud is still hostile towards constitutional reform - something that should be a red alarm. Has Leni Loud forgotten how her fellow Yellow, the late Carlos Celdran, was actually for constitutional reform? A shame really that Jover Laurio of Pignoy Ako Blog has been more endorsed by them than Celdran. Was Celdran actually ousted from the Yellow Community because of his desire to reform the constitution? Celdran, though anti-Duterte, joined hands with Dumdum, in the desire to amend the constitution for the better.

Leni Loud's platform, however, needs to support the three-point agenda of the CoRRECT Movement if she expects her plans to succeed. Many of these plans REQUIRE MONEY such as handing over ayuda is an EXPENSE on the part of the government, better Internet requires more money, vaccines require money, and the list can go on. Money is required to keep these services up and running!

I would like to talk about the support for the local businesses by opening up the economy

It's often lied that foreign investors will just "rob the Philippines" - a lie that has been disproved MANY TIMES when you read the history of Communist China under Deng Xiaoping and Singapore under the late Lee Kuan Yew. It's not wrong to support the local businesses. However, small businesses, fisheries, and the agriculture sectors can't remain stagnant. If she wants to support them then WHY NOT OPEN UP THE ECONOMY to more foreign investment? These businesses need more customers. I don't see any reason why foreign investors can't buy from these sectors for their production needs. A restaurant from Taiwan may want to buy as many local ingredients as possible for better freshness. A foreign investor will still eat rice and it would be better if he or she bought local rice for their consumption. 

Some Filipinos can always say what about developing the "sariling kakahayan"? I'd like to stress that opening the Philippines to foreign direct investment without excessive restrictions doesn't defeat that purpose. A good example is how small and medium businesses can actually benefit from foreign investments. A small or medium business can grow through new customers and new connections via foreign investment. A rice salesman can expand if they would be selling rice to foreign investors and Filipino businessmen. Multinational corporations (MNCs) would prefer to buy the local food supplies to lessen the costs wherever they invest. For example, a Lebanese businessman may be using basmati rice but he would also want to buy many of the stuff he uses to make shawarma LOCALLY. Some Middle Eastern sweets can be manufactured with some local ingredients such as using locally-made flour, locally-made sugar, and locally made bihon. This in turn would help the Buy Local Campaign when new customers are added. Buy local is part of good economics but to restrict these products to just the locals is defeating the purpose of getting more customers. 

A local business will still gain profits and the Philippine government still gets more taxes when a foreigner buys local goods. The Philippine government still gains taxes from MNCS whenever they earn their income because it must be DECLARED. The MNCS are tenants while the Philippine government is the lessor. Businesses are required to pay taxes if they expect to keep running just like tenants are required to pay rent. The taxes can be viewed as rentals. An increase in taxes can be compared to an increase in the cost of rental space after several years. Would it matter if the one gaining a profit is Filipino or foreign? No, it wouldn't as long as that income is declared, that income is taxed, and that tax finances the Filipino government. 

So how would closing down the economy actually NOT benefit local businesses? It does sound good on paper but it's comparable to Mao's stupid campaign to shoot the sparrows. True, the sparrows did get some grain but it was nothing compared to what the insects did later. Mao's campaign to get rid of the sparrows only caused ecological imbalance. A lack of sparrows killed off the balance and allowed the more harmful insects to harm more grain. The sparrows only took a little grain. However, the pests that the sparrows ate destroyed more grain. The reality is that a closed economy doesn't benefit the small businesses. It's because there's NO opportunity for growth. How can small and medium businesses increase in power if their service providers and customers are so limited? Would they have to wait for OFW remittances just so OFW families can buy from them? It becomes a real slow cycle on way or another. 

If Leni Loud wants to REALLY support small businesses - she needs to see the beauty of foreign investment's role in economic development. It would be because trying to restrict foreign investments from investing is like a mall without tenants. Also, the idea of 60-40 restrictions on certain sectors is stupid. Who in the right mind would rent a commercial space if the lessor only let them own 40% of their business in that branch? That means the tenant must give 40% of their net income to the lessor in that arrangement - a rather ridiculous arrangement. Net profit means income after ALL EXPENSES are accounted for which includes the RENT. There is net profit before taxes (which expenses are tax deductibles) and net profit AFTER taxes.  

Why should Leni Loud support a parliamentary system instead of the still ongoing presidential system

It's been 30+ years of post-EDSA and what gains are we truly talking about? True, the late Noynoy Aquino did some economic reforms but the Philippines was still under the rising tiger category. Lee didn't transform Singapore into a tiger economy in just six years either The presidential system sets so many ridiculous term limits. Some think parliamentary equals monarchy. The assumption is dumb because parliament is dissolved every time a term ends and elections. begin. The difference between term limits in a parliamentary system and a presidential system is in regards to the number of terms. The presidential system gives term limits based on a FIXED number of terms. Noynoy only had one elected term and can't run for re-election. The same goes for all his predecessors and President Rodrigo R. Duterte after the EDSA years. However, the parliamentary system allows people to run as many times as they want to be provided they were not blacklisted. It would mean that Joseph Estrada would be an invalid candidate if he were deposed as a prime minister instead of a president. 

The parliamentary system would allow more accountability also. Do I need to repeat myself about the weekly question hour? For example, the recent conflict between Duterte and Senator Richard "Dick" Gordon would make more sense in parliament. Imagine if Gordon were the opposition leader and he had Michael Aguinaldo as the shadow minister of audit and Dr. Willie Ong as the shadow minister of health in regards to Pharmally. Health Minister Francisco Duque is required to present the expenses and movements to Ong in a weekly debate. Gordon can lead a formal investigation of Duterte's transactions in open debate. Duterte can't be bullheaded and refuse to show the documents or he can be voted out via a vote of no confidence. Gordon can call a vote of no confidence against Duterte in the recent scenario if the latter breaks the rule of transparency in parliament. Meanwhile, Philhealth expenses can also be scrutinized by weekly questioning. Both the government and the opposition are required to be transparent to each other. 

The parliamentary system would also have more defined roles too. It's because people vote by parties and not by personalities. An example is how the Dilawans can vote for the Liberal Party with just one check with Leni Loud for prime minister and Francisco "Kikoman" Pangilinan as the deputy prime minister along with #OtsoDiretso and all their groups. The majority and minority are more well-defined with their own set of appointees. Each member of the government is responsible for running the government. Each member of the opposition questions the government and holds them accountable. That's what's also severely lacking in the current presidential system.