Economics in Diliman, Quezon City. The series commemorates 50 years of economic policymaking, supported by research from UPSE’s Philippine Center for Economic Development, which celebrates its 50th founding anniversary this year.
I find it easy to explain the Ramos reform program as it was guided by a clear vision for the country, summed up in his twin goals of people empowerment and world competitiveness. These entailed the pursuit of a coherent and systematic reform strategy he captured in five Ds: Devolution, Decentralization, Democratization, Deregulation, and “Development That is Sustainable” .
Decentralization pertained to the wider dispersal of economic activity across the country. Ramos’ first order of business was to give long-overdue preferential attention to Mindanao. When I called his attention in 1992 to how Mindanao only received nine percent of the infrastructure budget we inherited, he directed the tripling of this share by 1995.