Sensible budget needed to fight recession - Loren

The Philippine would be in a better position to tackle a recession waiting to happen by crafting the budget which affords cushion to vulnerable sectors.

Senator Loren Legarda made the statement yesterday amid the air of uncertainties now blowing on the Philippine economic horizon because of the continuing onslaught on the global economy.

"It is a must now, more than ever, for the government to rationalize its budget, with emphasis on sectors that are vulnerable," she said.

The chair of the Senate Economic Affair Committee, Legarda added that the government should also provide the necessary investments for growth and development.

"Given the financial distress and the looming global recession, the Philippines should first and foremost seek to stabilize its own economy and protect the poor from more negative shocks," she said.

Prudent fiscal management, one that is attuned to the needs of ailing sectors, is needed to ride out the crisis along with improved governance, she said.

"This will help enhance the country's investment climate which is needed to attract investors," Legarda said.

The government has submitted a whopping P1.4 trillion budget for its next fiscal year.

Legarda cited a pronouncement made by University of the Philippines economist and former Budget secretary Benjamin Diokno who said Filipinos have started losing jobs since the US financial crisis made headway 14 months ago.

"Now then, the government must find ways to protect and at the same time strengthen other sectors such as the informal ones, the small and medium industries, to prevent lay-offs that will exacerbate the unemployment problem," she said.

If other developed countries are experiencing massive onslaught in their economies, the Philippines, she said, may not be spared at all, so much so that its millions of overseas Filipino workers may be affected.

The OFW's dollar remittances have been the saving grace whenever the country is faced with economic slump.

With no relief in sight for the prevailing global financial distress, Malacanang on Sunday urged the public to prepare for a "worst-case scenario," although a high-ranking fficial of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), Augusto Santos, had said "there is no need to panic."

"The country is faced with serious threat of recession," she warned, adding that the country's economic managers should understand the real score.