Press Release
May 21, 2014

STATEMENT OF SENATE PRESIDENT FRANKLIN M. DRILON
ON THE HOLDING OF THE WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM IN MANILA

Hosting the World Economic Forum (WEF) on East Asia is an opportunity for Filipinos to tell the world about our country's economic success. This is our moment. This is our chance to showcase our growth story.

The World Economic Forum on East Asia is an auspicious venue to encourage more investors to do business in our country, expand trade activities and attract more tourists.

We shall showcase not just the economic miracle that we are experiencing, but also the government's massive efforts to improve infrastructure and create an environment conducive for business to flourish as well as a vast pool of excellent human resources, the Filipino's resilience and indomitable spirit even in the face of heart-breaking natural and man-made calamities.

However, while we highlight our economic gains, we must not lose sight of the fact that much more needs to be done for us to attain inclusive growth. We need to create more jobs for our people and ease poverty. Hence, we are taking concrete measures to strengthen our economic fundamentals so as to transform the Philippines into a major investment and tourist destination in Asia.

For decades, the Philippines had been known as the "sick man of Asia". However, in the last three years or more, we have seen a major change in the country's economic performance. The Philippines is now the fastest growing economy in the region, next only to China. Last year, our country posted GDP growth of 7.2 percent, which is much higher than the 6.8 percent posted in 2012.

The impressive economic performance, the investment grade status, improved rankings in global competitiveness surveys, and the overwhelming confidence of the international community in our economy are attributed to the government's relentless efforts to improve the quality of governance. If not for the various disasters that affected our country, the economic figures could be higher.

News Latest News Feed