When current administration faces governance failure, let’s look at the past administrations. That has long been the telltale line of Philippine politics, but never more so than under the BBM administration, where the economy reads like a bad balance sheet: growth crawls, markets sulk, investors ghost, and the peso gasps for air. The only things soaring are prices, propaganda, political mudslinging, and public frustration. This isn’t fate—it’s governance on autopilot mode. Let’s look at what’s falling, what’s rising, and why the Philippines is paying a premium for BBM’s incompetence. Here’s the ugly picture backed by fresh numbers, not palace press kits.
In Q3 2025, growth slowed to 4.0 percent—the weakest quarterly reading since the pandemic era. The culprit isn’t a mysterious external shock; it’s policy drift amplified by a flood-control corruption scandal that froze infrastructure spend and dented business confidence. Even household consumption sagged. This isn’t a headwind; it’s self-sabotage dressed up as “steady progress.”
When government priorities misfire, the economy bears the cost in slower jobs, fewer projects, and diminished momentum. Over the past decade, the PSEi has fallen roughly 20 percent, making it one of the weakest performers among major global benchmarks. A market that should be pricing in growth and resilience becomes a reflection of policy uncertainty and a climate of corrosive perception about long-term returns. When the policy environment feels preoccupied with optics rather than outcomes, capital flees in search of steadier soil. The peso flirted with a record low near ₱59 per $1 in late October as outflows rose and rate-cut bets mounted. Confidence leaks; the peso shows it. A currency’s health is a snapshot of investor sentiment about a country’s ability to preserve value and manage risk.
When policy noise outpaces real reform, the market answers with volatility, inflation and depreciation. BSP data show H1 2025 net FDI down about 24 percent year-on-year. Policy noise plus scandal equals a shrinking appeal for long-horizon capital. Investors don’t just buy into promises; they buy into predictability, risk management, and credible governance. If those foundations wobble, the inflow dries up, and with it the upgrades in productivity and wage growth that come with investment.
Twenty-two percent of families experienced involuntary hunger in September—the highest this year. Growth without relief is just a slogan. A modern economy cannot proclaim progress while millions struggle to put food on the table. If policy remains rooted in political spin rather than support truly for the people it represent and serves, the dignity of work and security of households erode together.
Recently, typhoon Tino left a rising death count and wide destruction making President declares a state of emergency, with Cebu hit hard and quake impacts continuing to reverberate. When prevention fails, nature takes a toll and the bill lands squarely on the public sector’s lap. Climate resilience isn’t a cost to trim; it’s a strategic investment. Yet under a governance philosophy anchored in political optics over outcomes, resilience is treated as a budget line rather than a policy imperative. Independent polling shows declines in the President’s approval and trust in late Q3 as scandals mounted.
Optics cannot weight over performance. When trust frays, social cohesion frays with it, complicating governance at every level from policymaking to crisis response. The Final Bill of Incompetence: You can’t brand your way out of fundamentals. A government that chases optics, blames predecessors, and shrugs at graft gets exactly this cocktail: slower growth, a sulking market, a weaker currency, retreating investors, hungrier families, higher bills, deadlier disasters, and crumbling trust.
The tragedy isn’t bad luck nor electoral choice; it’s bad governance with a paper trail. In the end, kids can tell and numbers don’t lie—leaders do. You can’t Photoshop poverty, spin inflation, or PR your way out of corruption. The economy doesn’t bend to propaganda, and nature doesn’t negotiate with negligence. Every peso lost, every life drowned, every investor gone is a receipt of governance failure. And when history audits this administration, it won’t just read “underperformance”—it will read betrayal of public trust.
The greatest tragedy isn’t the crisis itself—it’s the complacency and corrupt behavior of our political leaders that let it happen. Our beloved country deserves better than a presidency that treats data as a backdrop and accountability as an afterthought.
