Monsod: Inefficiency, not corruption scandal, caused slowdown
The country’s economy in the second half of last year should not have suffered even amid the sweeping investigation over the flood control mess had government officials not been inefficient, according to Solita “Winnie” Monsod, professor emeritus at the University of the Philippines School of Economics.
She said the Marcos administration’s inquiry on the corruption scandal was, “to say the least, quite ineffective, and to say the worst, very dangerous for our economy.”
“The fact is, government performance slowed down, and it was not necessary to slow down that government performance because of these investigations. If that is the case, we better not investigate anymore,” she said in a video podcast on Saturday.
The Inquirer reached out to Malacañang for comment, but Palace press officer Claire Castro has yet to respond.
‘Scared to sign vouchers’
Monsod, who served as director general of the former National Economic and Development Authority (the precursor of the Department of Economy, Planning and Development or DepDev) during President Corazon Aquino’s administration, said the country’s economy “performed very badly” despite several downward revisions made by the economic team.
She disagreed with the conclusion of DepDev Secretary Arsenio Balisacan that the sharp contraction of public construction, which contributed to the decline in the country’s GDP growth last year, was due to the corruption scandal.
Monsod explained: “Why did public construction funding go down? It was not because of the investigation. It was because the Department of Public Works [and Highways or DPWH] and [other agencies] with infrastructure programs in the government, became scared to sign vouchers because they may also be implicated. They were like in suspended animation. But that is something that the government could have prevented.”
Trust in government
“It’s not the scandal that caused the freeze in public construction funding. It was the government who froze public construction. That may not show corruption, but that certainly shows inefficiency,” she said.
According to DepDev, the Philippine economy closed 2025 with a 4.4-percent growth, missing the government’s growth target for the third straight year.
Balisacan attributed this lower than expected slump to adverse economic effects of weather-related disruptions, the flood control controversy and global economic uncertainties.
Monsod also criticized Balisacan’s pronouncement that the slowdown in public infrastructure spending was necessary to restore the public’s trust in the government.
“How has this slowdown corrected our problems? In fact, the slowdown has made it more difficult for the Filipinos to live,” she noted.
It also failed to restore the trust of Filipinos in the executive branch, including the DPWH, as well as the House of Representatives and Senate, whose members allegedly benefited from kickbacks in flood control projects.
Monsod said the investigation has also failed to bring the “big fishes” in the corruption saga behind bars, with only one high-ranking official—former Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr.—and several officials of the DPWH incarcerated months after President Marcos’ order to jail all personalities implicated in the flood control mess.
“If this slowdown was meant to increase the public trust in government and in institutions. I’m sorry it has not done so,” she said.
‘Overlapping risks’
Stratbase Group on Sunday also urged the Marcos administration to end its reactive governance and instead focus on long-term policymaking amid increasing security, economic, and climate risks.
“The Philippines is in danger of remaining exposed to overlapping economic, security, and climate shocks unless it shifts from reactive governance to long-term national planning,” the advisory and research consultancy firm said in a statement.
Stratbase president Victor Andres Manhit said climate change, economic disruption, maritime tensions and cyberthreats are interconnected and require sustainable planning.
“We are seeing different risks come together at the same time… When governance is fragmented or tied too closely to political cycles, the country ends up responding late and paying a much higher price,” he warned.
He also called for policies not only for more tangible security threats, but also for those in virtual spaces, noting that “cyber and information domains now directly affect national sovereignty and social cohesion.”
“The real challenge is whether we move from managing crises as they appear to preparing for them before they arrive,” Manhit said. —WITH A REPORT FROM KEITH CLORES
