Custodio, Cedric Jake

Reflection paper

One of the key takeaways I got from the video presentation is that political stability and
protectionism are very much important concerns in terms of economic growth and development
of a nation. In my opinion, protectionist measures must be reevaluated as the Constitution I
believe can have some pretty unfair and outdated measures written on it.

I have also realized just how significant the certain governance over a nation is when talking
about a nation’s overall growth. It is absolutely necessary to look back at our previous presidents
and review those who were in charge just for us to have a frame of reference as to how we have
performed all these years. Obviously, it is not only the government who’s in control of our
economic growth for there are several other factors too. Factors such as GDP, the country’s debt,
tourism, etc. are to be considered as well. Other aspects such as natural calamities and
phenomena have also occurred that greatly affected or stunted our development. But nonetheless,
how the government manages these kinds of situations places an effect as to how the country will
rise and flourish once more. If they have been incompetent with the way they respond to these
urgent emergencies then the consequences for it would be very evident in the aftermath.

In the Philippines, we have experienced various instabilities in regards to our economy. There
were times when we were leading and one of the top nations especially in Southeast Asia but on
the other hand, there were also moments when we were at our lowest, an example of this would
be our current standing in this time of a worldwide pandemic outbreak. It has been broadcasted
that our country has had the longest lockdown times and yet the number of cases still has not flat
lined. Due to that kind of situation, businesses have been operating on lots of restrictions, others
have been temporarily closed, and as a result it took a toll on the jobs of the employees and
workers. This situation took a detrimental hit on our economic development. If I were to analyze
this, I would be putting much blame on how we were governed and managed. Government
officials have been nothing but incompetent and they were incapable of taking the fall and saving
millions of Filipinos.
If I were to look solely on our country’s tourism, I can already see that there is a lot more room
to grow and this can be one of the things that the government can exploit in order for Philippines
to have an economic boom once more. We are already marketing our country well globally in
terms of tourism as seen on the It’s More Fun in the Philippines campaign started years ago.
There is no reason to stop there and with guidance along with assistance from the higher ups,
these prospects can be realized sooner.

I do believe that Philippines still has a brighter future ahead of it. Maybe these times now can
make it seem as if it’s all downs and no ups for this country. But through resilience, strategic
planning, and outstanding governance management, there is hope that Philippines can be on the
rise again. The economy will slowly but surely get back on the run probably if the global
pandemic subdues and if better choices are made for the country. There is so much potential for
growth and if only Filipinos can understand fully their potential, greater heights can be reached.

To summarize everything that has been said so far, the economic growth and development of a
nation largely depends on the government’s current state. Thus, if the governance management’s
main goals are to serve and work for the public as well as do everything in their power to help in
the development of the nation, then the results would manifest a healthy, rising economy.