Palace: Despite U.S. bailout, R.P. will continue to brace itself to weather financial turmoil

MANILA, Oct. 6 (PNA) -- Malacañang said today that the United States government’s US$ 700-billion Wall Street bailout over the weekend signals the “start of a long process of economic recovery and confidence” but warned that the Philippines will continue to brace itself to weather the financial crisis.

“It will still be a long road to normalcy,” Press Secretary Jesus G. Dureza said, referring to the US Congress’ approval of the financial bailout plan which President George W. Bush immediately signed into law.

Dureza, however, pointed out that the twin factors of “our unity and the resilience of the country’s economy will surmount this current economic challenge as it did in many instances in the past.”

“The Philippines will have to continue to brace itself, like all other countries of the world, to weather this crisis,” he said.

He said that while “President Gloria Arroyo has set in place early on some economic fundamentals that helped the country ride the storm, we nonetheless should all continue to stay the course.”

The US Congress, which had rejected the original bailout plan endorsed by President Bush, changed its mind and approved the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 by a vote of 263-171.

The legislative measure has been described as the largest economic intervention by the US government since the 1930s.

In an interview over Radyo ng Bayan this afternoon, Dureza said President Arroyo’s focus on her administration’s economic reform agenda somehow helped the Philippines tide over the turmoil caused by the near crash of America’s investment capital.

The President “continues to call on us to stay the course -- not to slacken on her reform agenda,” Dureza told the radio program “Pilipinas, Pilipinas!”

With the United States being one of the Philippines biggest markets, “recovery will take a long time” with the US consumers constricting their appetite for consumer goods Dureza said.

Aside from diverting to “other markets if we can,” the Philippines itself will have to pump-prime its economy by 2009 via continued infrastructure spending, for instance, “para umiikot ang pera,” he added.

China, the Philippines biggest market at present, would be a “good market to develop,” aside from India, Dureza said.