I am not ashamed to admit that this term "economic fundamentals" is a strange concept to me. To confess, this was not taught in any subject in my college years. Maybe a teacher or two had an occasion to discuss it, in some class, but I could have been absent when it was treated. It was probably when Donald Regan, the top finance man of the late American president Ronald Reagan, talked about it decades ago, that I sensed of its prime importance in running the affairs of any state.
In the Philippine setting, "economic fundamentals" was always mentioned in past administrations. Former presidents Fidel V. Ramos, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Benigno Simeon Aquino III, either by themselves or through their trusted economic planners, never failed to assure us, their constituents, that they were either instituting or strengthening the country's "economic fundamentals".
Since the concept remained too profound (and therefore vague) to me, no matter how I tried to wrestle with its meaning, I just looked at how the Philippine peso performed vis-à-vis the American dollar as a simplistic assessment of how our leaders were managing our country's economic fundamentals.
We must recall that our economic woes could be traced to the perceived corruption in the regime of the unlamented late president Ferdinand E. Marcos. Upon his exit, we became the basket case in Asian economy. Corazon C. Aquino was a transition president. The peso began to do well in the administration of Pres. Ramos, until the 1997 Asian crisis threw a monkey wrench in our economic growth.
Philippine economy performed better in the administration of Pres. Arroyo, notwithstanding sporadic allegations of corruption. She was profuse in talking about her policies on economy almost every time she addressed the public. It must be that the economic fundamentals she adopted, whatever they were, worked well. I could say that with a degree of confidence because our currency started to flourish.
I also heard Pres. Aquino constantly pepper his speeches with assurances that he gave impetus to his aggressive pursuit of economic policies during his entire stay at Malacañang. He was probably correct in his thrusts on economy because judging by the exchange rate of the peso against the dollar, the Philippines became a miracle economic performer throughout Asia.
Strangely, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte has not spoken about "economic fundamentals". We have yet to hear the president outline his policies on our economy. In his public appearances, the topic that consumed his speaking time, has been (and obviously still is) his war against illegal drug trade. Pres. Duterte's lips are seemingly sealed on how he intends to address economic issues. Even in his state visits to other countries, where economy would have the main menu, his silence on the subject has been ominous.
To me, the performance of the peso in the currency market is one indicator that this administration of Pres. Duterte is proving to be a study in disaster, economically speaking. He is our president for just eight months and yet the exchange rate of the peso against the dollar is the lowest in ten years. When he took his oath as our president in June 2016, we could buy $1.00 with a little more than P40.00 but today we need some P50.00 to get $1.00. The nosedive of the value of the peso versus the greenback tells us that it is time the president grapples earnestly with this term "economic fundamentals".