The business community is anxious over the possible victory of presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte. His lead in the latest surveys has ruffled the nerves of traders, while his inflammatory comments about rape and extra-judicial killings have gone beyond the bounds of decency.
Members of the Makati Business Club and the Management Association of the Philippines on Wednesday finally had the chance to take a look at and weigh Duterte. The controversial mayor, apparently aware that his antics and the use of gutter language do not sit well with businessmen, sought to calm the nerves of his well-heeled audience.
Duterte did provide some of his economic insights if elected to the highest position of the land. He promised to spend P18 billion annually to support start-ups made up mostly by micro, small and medium enterprises, with each region getting P1 billion.
The leading presidential candidate vowed to stop corrupt officials, correct the ineffective Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, speed up the construction of infrastructure projects and allocate as much as P30 billion as health assistance to poor families living in the poorest provinces.
True to form, Duterte unveiled a plan to hire 3,000 more policemen and double the salary of security forces to start “a bloody war against crime.”
His spokesman also attempted to calm market jitters, assuring the businessmen that it will be “business as usual” should the mayor be elected president. The front-runner will provide businesses the “right and proper atmosphere” to prosper without sacrificing the welfare of the people, spokesman Peter Laviña said in a statement.
But Duterte, like the other presidential candidates, failed to present a clear-cut economic agenda—the one that will significantly reduce poverty incidence, attract foreign investors and respect their contracts, liberalize certain sectors of the economy, improve the lot of farmers and fishermen and close the gap between the rich and the poor.
Duterte has not identified his economic team to allay the fears of businessmen. He has so far overlooked the gains of the economy and failed to identify the reforms needed to boost it further. The stock and currency markets will reflect the political and economic uncertainty he has created.