Low inflation rate due to Pres. Du30

Wing news is that inflation in the Philippines slowed to a 16-month low of 3.0 percent in April on lower food prices as the government implemented a law easing restrictions on rice imports to avoid the supply shortage that spiked consumer prices last year. However, there is a warning that inflation could rise again on the volatile crude oil prices and pressure on food prices due to the prolonged dry weather.

The figures that we got came from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) when it released its monthly Consumer Price Index report last Tuesday. The government also pointed out that a prolonged El Niño weather phenomenon and a continued increase in global crude oil prices could push up consumer prices in the near term, while the Central Bank noted that slower global growth could also exert downward pressure on inflation.

There is no doubt that our low inflation can be attributed to the performance of Pres. Rodrigo Duterte.  I already wrote that one truism in Philippine elections is that whenever there is a mid-term election people usually mark it that the president did a good job in his first three years in office. People and newspaper pundits use the mid-term elections as a performance rating of the current president. The reality is all presidents saw a huge downward slope on their popularity ratings whenever the mid-term election approaches.

However, I believe that only Pres. Rodrigo Duterte has overturned this presidential curse when we saw Pres. Duterte’s public satisfaction soar to a fresh record high in the first quarter, according to a new Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey released more than a week before the May 13 midterm elections.

The result of this latest poll showed that 81 percent of the respondents were satisfied with Pres. Duterte, while only 9 percent appeared to be dissatisfied with his performance. Only 10 percent remained undecided. All these have given the President a boost, despite the huge negative expose by “Bikoy” that the President’s family was involved in illegal drugs! This is still an unresolved issue but at least Peter Jomel Advincula, alias “Bikoy” is now in NBI custody. This is something that is only interesting for next week… After elections, nobody would care to hear what Advincula has to say.

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I have to inform my faithful readers that I’m off to London, England this Saturday for a rare family vacation… which is why for the first time in my life I won’t be voting this May 13 and would only cover the results of the election as they are publicized. Hence, I will be writing a bunch of travelogue articles in the next three weeks, while I’m in Europe. For sure, we are taking PAL’s latest Airbus A-350-900, a plane that I already took from Toulouse, France to Manila. I got it from Cielo Villaluna that it’s the sixth and last A-350-900 with the “Love Bus” insignia on its nose. This makes PAL’s fleet of aircraft one of the youngest air fleets in the whole world and it makes me extra proud that thanks to my son who is now a first officer in PAL’s 777 Boeing fleet, we are now called a PAL family member.

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If people want to know why after three years as President, the popularity of Pres. Rodrigo Duterte is still very high despite all the negatives that his political enemies have tried to pin down on him. All I can say is that the President happens to solve many issues happening in this country. Aside from the war  against drugs that is still happening, important issues like that trash from Canada from which unscrupulous businessmen made money from, the President has finally resolved.

As Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo pointed out, the concerned agencies conveyed Canada’s commitment to fund the shipment of all the 69 waste containers back to Canada. Foreign Affairs Sec. Teodoro Locsin Jr. tweeted that Canada’s garbage which was sent to the Philippines six years ago would be shipped back to Canada in 15 days. Thanks to our tough talking President Duterte who threatened to sail to Canada and “dump their trash there.” The President said, “I will really return (the garbage)... Load the containers to a ship, and I will advise Canada that your garbage is on the way. Prepare a grand reception. Eat it if you want to.”

If the President did not talk like a toughie, I doubt if the Canadian government would have reacted this way. Frankly speaking, we should find out who made a business bringing garbage from Canada to the Philippines? I do not know if these people have broken certain laws…but certainly bringing garbage to Philippine soil was a stupid decision and thanks to our President Duterte the trash would be on its way back to Canada, finally.

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