MANILA, Philippines – Should we congratulate ourselves for last year’s GDP growth of 7.3%? Yes, of course. The “but” is from the experience of others that we need at least three successive 9% growth years to break out of our underdevelopment. Can we do it? Yes, of course. For this we need urgency. This is a problem not only of the government but also of the private sector.

We are so rich in both human and natural resources that we take it easy. We can’t do this anymore. The Aquino government has been in for over six months. Some departments are already on a roll but many are not. The excuse is that there is need of study and more studies before we can move on.

This may be true. But decisions, permits, agreements have to be made or we may be like the donkey that died of starvation since it could not decide which bale of straw to eat first. The ERB (Energy Regulatory Board) scheduled the FIT (Feed in tariff) rates for last August. It was postponed for November. Now it won’t be out till March.

Renewable energy projects cannot start, because, according to some interpretation, the law says that projects already started before the promulgation of rates cannot take advantage of FIT rates. This is one delay in one agency but there are many others. Careful study may really be needed but some risk of mistakes must be taken. Delay might be the biggest mistake.

Culturally, urgency is not normal for us. We would rather delay than make a mistake. However, it may be time to make a change. Almost any decision we make will be subject to criticism. Advantages of study may not be worth the price of the delay.

We have to make the decisions and the actions after careful consideration but without delays. We have too many people without adequate food, too many people without jobs, too many people who cannot afford to send their children to school, many people who cannot afford to go to the hospital. We are running against time. We may personally be well off and can afford to take it easy but so many of our countrymen are in need.

There is need for urgency. If we look only into our own situation we may not need to move but if we consider that there are others who depend on the work we do, we will see the urgency of our need to act. We don’t have forever. If we live a hundred years, it will be great.

A foreign investor challenged me recently to propose to him a big- ticket item for him to finance to help Mindanao. I could think of a railroad in Mindanao, the east-west highway to link Tagum to Iligan, an undersea power cable between Surigao and Leyte, large power projects, ship building, and mines. Besides these, there are agricultural projects but these would not be big-ticket items unless consolidated. (I would be interested in suggestions.) Financing of such projects would promote growth and create jobs. We can stop sitting on our hands and stop hunger and joblessness.

Our people do not have to go abroad and disrupt their family lives. We do not have to rely on RH bills to safeguard our families against poverty but endanger our consciences. If only we feel a sense of urgency to do something for our poor brothers, we can make this a land of plenty as it is meant to be and be able to help citizens of other countries less fortunate. <emeterio_barcelon@yahoo.com>