1.

Continue and maintain current macroeconomic policies, including fiscal,

monetary, and trade policies.
President Rodrigo Duterte vowed to sustain the current Aquino
government’s economic policies to ensure the continued expansion of the
economy, which in the first quarter of 2016 posted the highest growth in Asia
at 6.9 percent.

2. Institute progressive tax reform and more effective tax collection, indexing
taxes to inflation. A tax reform package will be submitted to Congress by
September 2016. President Duterte said personal income taxes would be
lowered — along with corporate taxes. Duterte said the Responsible
Parenthood and Reproductive Health Law would be implemented in full force
— especially for the poor, so that they would "have freedom of informed
choice on the number and spacing of children they can adequately care and
 provide for, eventually making them more productive members of the labor
force."

3. Increase competitiveness and the ease of doing business. This effort will
draw upon successful models used to attract business to local cities (e.g.,
Davao) and pursue the relaxation of the Constitutional restrictions on foreign
ownership, except as regards land ownership, in order to attract foreign
direct investment.

4. Accelerate annual infrastructure spending to account for 5% of GDP, with

Public-Private Partnerships playing a key role. According to Sec. Diokno
they plan to rollout “simultaneously, not sequentially,” small, medium and
large projects in all regions. The budget chief had said the Duterte
administration will order non-stop or 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week
construction work on most urban-based projects to fast-track infrastructure
buildup. From a share of 5.2 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP)
next year, infrastructure spending will be hiked to 7 percent of GDP by the
end of the Duterte administration, Diokno said.

5. Promote rural and value chain development toward increasing agricultural

and rural enterprise productivity and rural tourism. This opens a myriad of
opportunities for fresh investments in new industries in these rural areas,
which have traditionally relied on the likes of agriculture, fisheries, furniture
and handicraft for their livelihood. The government is eyeing on providing
alternative locations for BPOs to expand their operations that will also
support the stellar growth of the industry.

6. Ensure security of land tenure to encourage investments, and address

bottlenecks in land management and titling agencies. To increase foreign
and local investment facilities as contributory to growth, security of land
tenure should be given due recourse. Security of tenure should be consistent
 and land management bottlenecks should be properly addressed as a
mechanism to attract investments.

7. Invest in human capital development, including health and education

systems, and match skills Invest in human capital development and training
to meet the demand of businesses and the private sector. True to his
campaign promise, Duterte's marching order before he formally took office
was to to give topmost priority to education and health. Investment in
human capital should also be high to provide competitiveness in areas of
employment and human development. Though we are yet to see some
updates on this matter, since the government is currently focusing on the
peace and order which is the ultimate concern also of peace-loving citizens
like us, I strongly believe that this is bein addressed with; one proof is the
tax-reform that they are pushing in order to alleviate the sufferings of most
middle class Filipinos who are paying more taxes (which usually around 30%
of their income) than those reach businessowners.

8. Promote science, technology, and the creative arts to enhance innovation

and creative capacity towards self-sustaining, inclusive development.
Research on science and technology has always been an overlooked area of
development resulting in a shortage of innovation. Unless we take a serious
stand in the field of science and technology, the country's workers will
remain mediocre alongside their foreign counterparts.
As a city mayor for almost two decades in Davao, the President’s science and
technology agenda dwells on broad strokes and statements in five main
areas: renewable energy, industrializatioin, faster and cheaper internet,
increased food production and climate change adaptation. With that path
and the President’s current chief of the Department of Science and
Technology, Fortunato dela Peña, a chemical engineer but has been holding
top government positions since 2001, the Philippines is now ready to realize
 the dream of becoming on the countries to recon with with regards to
technologies.

9. Improve social protection programs, including the government’s

Conditional Cash Transfer program, to protect the poor against instability
and economic shocks. The Duterte administration is not keen on expanding
the conditional cash transfer program according to the Department of
Budget and Management secretary Diokno.
“We’re committed to CCT but I think it will be retained at the present level.
We are not for expanding it but we’re also going to shoot for reducing the
wastage, the leakages,” Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said in a press
briefing. Diokno said some households that are on the list of beneficiaries do
not “deserve” assistance from the government. The present government
wants to ensure that the concept of the cash transger program is followed
and that is “to keep our kids longer at school”, thus requirements must be
followed strictly. Secretary Diokno proposes P3.35 Trillion budget for 2017
and P54.9 billion will be allocated for the CCT program or the Pantawid
Pamilyan Pilipino Program (4Ps). He said, the budget will com from the Sin
Tax and the Philippine Amusement Gaming Corporation to implement his
expanded 4Ps program.

10. Strengthen implementation of the Responsible Parenthood and

Reproductive Health Law to enable especially poor couples to make
informed choices on financial and family planning. Responsible parenthood
program has been in place for decades but nothing significant has come out
of this program because of the lack of political will to implement it maybe
because the CBCP is against it. However, with its inclusion as one of the top
priorities under Duterte, we should expect a major stride toward trimming
down the local population. President Rodrigo Duterte did vow the full
implementation of the Reproductive Health law, a legislation passed by
Congress four years ago under the administration of President Benigno
Aquino III. In his frst SONA, the Prsident said it is high time for the
government to give priority to promoting responsible parenthood and
reproductive health as it is vital in his administration’s quest to reduce
poverty and promote economic growth. “The implementation of the
Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health law must be put into full
force and effect”.