I thought the second Marcos administration would be more organized and efficient than the Duterte administration. My logic was based on Marcos' being exposed to the Presidency at an early age and having the experience of walking the corridors of power. I also thought that the ignominy of seeing his father at the pinnacle of power and later go down to the level of of being a pariah, would've been a very traumatic experience that he would tread more carefullly when he became President.
Was I ever wrong.
The first five months of Marcos' Presidency has seen disorganization reign. The Executive Secretary was fired from his post. The Cabinet department Marcos heads was wracked by controversy. The husband of the head of the Presidential Management Staff was allegedly arrested in Bangkok for acts of lasciviousness. Yesterday, Zenaida Angping supposedly resigned as PMS head. Malacanan spun it as asking for time off for her family. Effectively, the only original appointee left in the Palace inner circle is SAP Anton Lagdameo.
Just when you thought it couldn't get worse, The Speaker and Presidential cousin, together with the Deputy Speaker who's the Presidential son, have sought the creation of a sovereign wealth fund.
By the very terms used, wealth and fund, the assumption is there is a cash surplus that needs to be invested in order for the country and its citizens to gain from the investments. But it could be for other purposes as well as in the case of Singapore's Temasek Holdings Inc.
"At the point of Singapore's independence in August 1965, the Government of Singapore had ownership or joint ownership of various local companies, such as Malaysia-Singapore Airlines (later split up into Malaysia Airlines and Singapore Airlines) and the Singapore Telephone Board (which became Singapore Telecommunications). As part of its push for local and foreign private investment in sectors such as manufacturing and shipbuilding, the government's Economic Development Board (EDB) also bought minority stakes in a variety of local companies.[26] During the first ten years after independence, the government acquired or established several companies, such as the Keppel Corporation (originally Keppel Shipyard, taken over from the Royal Navy after the British military withdrawal from Singapore), ST Engineering (originally a weapon manufacturer set up to supply the Singapore Armed Forces), and the shipping company Neptune Orient Lines.[citation needed][27]
On 25 June 1974, Temasek was incorporated under the Singapore Companies Act[1][28] to hold and manage the assets previously held directly by the Singapore government, named for an early settlement on the island. The goal was for Temasek to own and manage these investments on a commercial basis,[21] allowing the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Trade and Industry to focus on policymaking.[citation needed]
In February 2020, Temasek announced a company-wide wage freeze and voluntary pay cuts for senior management in part to help fund community programs aimed at alleviating the impact of COVID-19.[29]
On 1 October 2021, Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara, the current chief executive officer of Temasek International (TI), succeeded Ho Ching as executive director and chief executive officer of Temasek Holdings.[30]"
The above is a condensed history of how Temasek was formed by the Singapore government. It was incorporated after Singapore separated from Malaysia in 1965. It became the holding company for state-owned companies or what we call here as government-owned or controlled corporaitons or GOCCs.
Ferdinand Marcos had gone through this route before with GOCCs but without the benefit of a holding company acting as a sovereign wealth fund. While Singapore has always been run like a corporation by Lee Kuan Yew, the Philippines wouldn't follow in its path because we had rent-seeking oligarchs in the power structure since the time of the Spaniards. The pseudo-monarchy of the Philippines had the colonial government, the church and the oligarchs in charge of the fiefdoms.
This didn't change when the Americans took over the Spaniards. They co-opted the structure to ease pacification and assert control over their new colony. This is the root cause of our problems up to now and why we remain the laggard in ASEAN.
After Marcos was ousted, some GOCCs were privatized. The new cronies/oligarchs benefited from this. At the same time, the sequestered companies of the Marcos cronies became the new milking cows of the administration appointees. This was their own version of personal wealth creation. It's the reason why the PCGG has always been a tool of political and economic persecution designed to run after one identified group in the country.
We haven't had much success with privatization either. Just look at how much we pay now for what are deemed as public utilities. We have the second highest power rates in the region. Beginning next year, we will also be paying more for the water we use.
Singapore has been successful with Temasek because the companies under its wing are all professionally-staffed. The government itself is run like a corporation with members of parliament groomed for key cabinet posts. They are also well-credentialed, meaning they have the educational background, experience and expertise to excel in their assignments.
Just take the case of SingTel, which has been a partner of the Ayala's Globe Telecom since they went into that sector. SingTel owns more than the allowed equity in Globe but that has been remedied by the amendment to the antiquated Public Service Act.
In simple layman's terms, there are no rent-seeking oligarchs in Singapore because the government itself owns and operates the companies in key industries in partnership with foreign investors. This is the direct opposite of our case where we have oligarchs in control of companies in key industries and regulatory capture of government through campaign contributions.
Just look at the ongoing PR war being waged by Ramon Ang's San Miguel group against the Aboitiz group, which is perceived to be the primus inter pares among the business leaders given the closeness of Sabin Aboitiz to BBM. With every change in administration, there are also corresponding changes in the power structure as to who oligarch gets to control the industries which lays the golden eggs.
The debate about the functions of the public and private sector will never end but in the case of Singapore, it proves that both can go hand-in-hand and work together for the good of the people. Singapore is the best proof of the concept. It's not perfect but it does work. What Singapore has to contend with now are social issues that come with affluence such as a population that's going gray because people aren't having children due to the expense and the difficulties associated with child-rearing.
I'm opposed to the creation of the Maharlika Fund because the structure isn't in place and there's no extra income which can be used to fund it. Using public pension funds such as the SSS and GSIS isn't fair to those who have been continuously employed and religiously contribute towards receiving their pensions when they retire.
The same is true with government financial institutions such as the Landbank and DBP providing seed money for the fund. It will take out monies which could otherwise be used for development projects, particularly infrastructure, which we're still deficient in. If we were to follow the Singapore model, government could cut down on its deficit by becoming more efficient through a reorganization. Marcos mentioned this in his SONA but there is no strategy which has been presented by the DICT with regard to the digitization of the bureaucracy.
This is why I've been consistently saying that Marcos hasn't taken any steps for institutional reforms which address the root cause of our problems. Marcos Sr. had a vision and a strategy. Marcos Jr. doesn't. An ideal public-private partnership setup would be like Singapore where government retains the majority and the private sector takes a minority stake but as we have seen since 1986, the oligarchs have been lording it over the country. We still haven't moved on from the plantation style political and economic structure.
But more importantly, what Marcos is missing out on is the fact that we have to invest in ourselves first. This is what Singapore did. This is the vision that Marcos Sr. had with his 11 major industrial projects. If only the private sector was involved in those projects then maybe the Philippines would've become a close second to Singapore by now.
As it is, our economy is consumption-driven, powered by the OFWs who bring in the precious foreign exchange that our exports can't. Our primary export commodity is labor. We don't have agricultural and export manufacturing which is why we find ourselves without food security. Then there are the oligarchs with their cartels and oligopolies. It doesn't take a genius to figure this out. Marcos surely knows the reason why we are still the regional laggard.
The question we should really be asking is, what's Marcos going to do about it since the people have given him the mandate?
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