Why worry over the fall of the peso?

By Herbert Vego

WHILE shopping for condiments in a public market, I momentarily thought my eyes were “lying” after seeing the price tag of red onions at PHP 300 per kilo, a big jump from the previous PHP 230.

I exclaimed, “Wow, it costs more than meat!”

I could only blame the decline in value of the Philippine peso as the major trigger of price increases.  In the case of onions, according to my “suki,” their suppliers had to import from China due to the shortfall of local production.

This month, the exchange rate of the peso against the US dollar has  hovered between PHP 58 and PHP 59.

On a recent TV interview, Economics Professor Emmanuel Leyco of the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM) candidly admitted that while the aforesaid exchange rate could be favorable to Philippine households receiving dollars, “Only for a short time, since all prices would consequently rise.”

We are now behind our target growth rate of 6.5%, according to the Makati Business Club. As of October 2025, the Philippine economy had grown by only 4.0%, which is lower than the 5.5% recorded in the second quarter.

We would be lucky to hit the 6.5% target by the end of the year. Call that sustainable productivity, which could not be possible without our skilled and unskilled laborers who work abroad in order to feed their loved ones back home.

Unfortunately, the development of our economy has lagged behind our population growth. As of the 2024 census by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), our population had expanded to 112,729,484.

It is said that 90 percent of the country’s wealth is in the hands of only 10 percent of the people.

Most poor Filipino parents wallow in the mistaken notion that the more babies they make, the more they contribute to productivity. This belief is especially prevalent among farmers who mistakenly expect their children to take over farm work, only to be disappointed.

Ironically, this country is supposedly rich in agricultural resources, such as rice, sugar cane, pineapples, bananas and coconuts. Our seas throb with fishes.

Slowly but surely, fortunately, our entrepreneurs are learning to exploit our delicious fruits through export. The Guimaras mango, for example, has found a huge export market in Australia. Dried ripe mangoes, done in Cebu, are available in duty-free airport shops worldwide.

However, we have mishandled our environmental assets. Due to illegal logging and upland urbanization, the country has lost much of its forest cover. According to the Philippine Forestry Statistics, we only have an estimated total forest cover of 7.22 million hectares or 24.07% of the country’s land mass, which is way below the 17.8 million hectares we had in 1934 — 91 long years ago.

A better alternative would have been to strike a balance between income and consumption. An ideal family must only beget as many children as they can feed, clothe and send to school. Failure to do this would condemn future generations to a vicious cycle of poverty.

We have creative professionals in the arts and sciences – say painting, writing, sculpting, cooking, gardening, sewing, playing instruments, dancing, singing, nursing, caregiving, among others – but there’s not enough local environment for them to thrive in.

Hence, they migrate abroad for a decent income. It is understandable why the Philippine government does not discourage such migration.

According to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the country received US $34.49 billion in foreign remittances in 2024 — a poor improvement from $30 billion six years ago in 2019.

With so many natural typhoons, floods and earthquakes impoverishing us year after year, quo vadis, Filipinas?