President Benigno S. Aquino III. EDWIN BACASMAS/INQUIRER
MANILA, Philippines — Four out of five Filipinos joining the middle class?
President Benigno Aquino on Tuesday cited a study that made this projection to bolster his administration’s claim that the economy has gone on track to achieve inclusive growth, or the kind felt not just in the upper-crust but across segments of society.
But according to the same study, he said, such goal would not be achieved until 2030, or long after Aquino had stepped down from Malacañang.
“There is one study that says that by 2030, four out of five Filipinos would join the middle class,” he said in a speech at the 2nd National Technical Vocational Education and Training Congress in Pasay City.
“We can achieve that if we would stay the course,” he said.
Aquino devoted much of his speech praising his close friend, Director General Joel Villanueva of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).
“Because of better governance and because of greater focus on the needs of our people, they are now getting opportunities,” the President said in Filipino, noting that 62.4 percent of TESDA graduates landed jobs in 2012.
Apart from lauding accomplishments reported by TESDA, President Aquino was visibly upbeat over the so-called “demographic sweet spot,” which the economy has been projected to feel in 2015 — when a huge portion of the population would enter “working age.”
“By 2019, we will then enter the middle-income sweet spot,” he said, noting that the country’s gross domestic product per capita, as projected, would hit $6,000.
“This means that more people could get jobs and the earnings of every Filipino family would increase. More businessmen would be attracted, the standard of living of ordinary people would improve, and the cycle of widespread development would continue.”
The President added: “Now that we are on the rise, should this be the time for us to lose our way?”
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