The reported 7.8% growth in the economy of the country by the National Statistics Coordinating Board (NSCB) for the first quarter of 2013 is good news to government, businessmen, entrepreneurs, civil society, and the academe.   The church might even feel good about it but it won’t trigger even a naughty smile from the ordinary man on the street and most of all from the poor whose only perpetual companion is his or her misery. If good news, indeed it is, even to the lowliest man, the benefit will be felt a generation from now.  While the country feels good about it and the government of President Aquino boasts about it, it is not a cause for celebration by all until this growth is translated into real growth that trickles down to the lowest rung and member of society.  This growth brings no meaning to the farmer who cannot dictate the price of his produce as is in the case of the seller to the buyer.  It does not bring meaning to the parent who is forced to transfer his or her child from the private to the public school because his or her income can no longer meet the increase in tuition fees that has just been approved by government.  It does not bring meaning to the scavengers whose only wish is for the well-off in life to produce more recyclable wastes that they can make money from to stay alive.  But even that will be denied them under this era of environment consciousness.

Until and unless government can translate this soar in economic growth to something that will trickle down and benefit the economically deprived members of society, that figure can’t mean anything to many sectors of society.  Unless government uses that growth to close the gap between the rich and the poor, that economic growth will just be another statistics in the minds of the many. It is not enough that government succeed in providing the favorable environment for everyone to grow economically.  It must also consider that there are those who can’t lift themselves up even with the right environment.  Government must extend its saving arms to get these people out of their deprivation before they can do it themselves. I have to emphasize here that notwithstanding the reported high economic growth rate, NSCB also said that poverty incidence in the country has remained constant since 2006 (28.8%), 2009 (28.6%) up to 2012 (27.9%). The differences, by the way, are statistically insignificant. This is not to say that I am no believer of good news because good news it really is.  The unprecedented economic growth is a statement and a score card of the kind of government that President Aquino is pursuing. It is the evidence of the trust that investors have on the Aquino government’s ability to bring the needed reforms in government processes.

There is a voice of caveat, however, that tells me not to accept the figure as a result of real factors.  NSCB identified construction and manufacturing as the major drivers of the unprojected  growth for the first quarter of 2013. But so did it include government spending in infrastructure. Lest we forget, the first quarter of 2013 was an election period and as is the practice ever since, elections bring unprecedented government spending on infrastructure.  We saw all road-cementing projects started and completed during the election period here in Tagbilaran and surrounding municipalities. (In fact we wee wondering why many good roads were asphalt overlayed while the rotten ones remained rotted).  I saw newly constructed paved roads in Iloilo last week.  Friends tell me the same thing happened in their provinces and cities.  So the figure could have been artificially triggered by infrastructure spending of government for election purposes. Again statistics don’t matter until they are felt on the streets.  This condition in the national level should be replicated in the local level.  The same reforms and advocacies or policies that brought forth the highest growth on the national level should be pursued relentlessly in the local levels by the local government officials.  The lower the growth is brought down to the local government level the faster it can be felt by the most deprived sector of society. There is no apt time to start it than this year when elected and re-elected officials assume their offices under a new or renewed mandates.