By DANNY O. SAGUN
PIA-Dagupan Infocenter

CONTRARY to claims by the political opposition, the sound economic condition of the country is already being felt by the common people, a Cabinet official in charge of government media facilities claimed Wednesday.

Secretary Conrado “Dodie” Limcaoco, Jr., director-general of the Philippine Information Agency, said that the country has achieved 24 quarters of growth since President Macapagal-Arroyo took over, a feat he described as “unprecedented in the history of the country.”

The Philippines, he admitted, also saw growth in the past as in the time of former Presidents Corazon Aquino and Fidel Ramos but progress was hampered by factors like the coup attempts during Aquino’s time and the Asian crisis in 1997.

The opposition has claimed that the economic progress is only felt by the capitalists and the rich but not the people in the lower rung of society. “That’s not true,” Limcaoco told a gathering of PIA information officers at the Richville Hotel in Mandaluyong City.

He said that the opposition could not deny the macroeconomic gains as there are figures to support such gains. “Kaya bumabanat sila na wala daw trickle (down) effect sa mga tao ang pagunlad ng ekonomya,” he noted.

“Meron na, dapat lang na sabihin natin sa mga tao bilang tagapaghatid ng tamang impormasyon sa kanila,” he urged the information officers who attended a seminar-workshop on Avian flu.

The President, he said, made unpopular decisions like the adoption of the expanded value-added-tax to achieve economic improvement which eventually came when the country saw more cash filling the government coffers.

With the money on hand, he said that the country was able to pay its foreign debts ahead of schedule, taking advantage of the strong peso. More oil can be imported as it involves fewer pesos, he also said. From P56 to a U. S. dollar, the exchange rate fell to the P48 level and it may even fall to P45, he added.

Limcaoco, who also supervises the operations of the government television and radio facilities, lamented what he called unrelenting “sowing of venom” by some quarters even as he urged them to stop “destructive politics” and instead work united for the sake of the country.

Citing the implementation of the “8 by ’08 Priority Programs – job opportunities, cost of living improvement, peso appreciation, investment enhancement (domestic and foreign), pro-poor education, health care, housing and anti-hunger, anti-terrorism, and Green Philippines – Limcaoco said: “It’s payback time for the people!”