In his weekly column “The View from the Palace” which comes out tomorrow (Monday), Press Secretary and Presidential Spokesperson Ignacio R. Bunye echoed President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s optimism of keeping the country “on the path of progress” and be a “First World nation within a generation.”

Bunye said that while the political noise created by anti-administration forces still abounds, the fact remains that the President’s performance to turn the economy around in 2007 was heard above the din.

“The year 2008 holds real promise for a different reason: not only do we expect strong growth in the 7 percent zone, but as a result of our total economic overhaul, we are well-positioned to weather a global economic slowdown,” he quoted the President as saying in her economic briefing for business leaders, bankers, diplomats and journalists in Makati City last Friday.

“While the doomsayers braced for what turned out to be an overhyped rally that same day, cold, hard facts spoke for the President’s performance in 2007 and gave reason for us to be optimistic this year,” Bunye stressed.

In her opening remarks during the economic briefing on the theme “Defying Gravity, Rising Steadily,” the President said she is “confident and bullish on our economy, our people and our ability to join hands to move this nation forward.”

The Philippine economy has what it takes to defy gravity and rise steadily to loftier heights unseen and unheard of in more than a decade, she said.

The President noted that international business groups had favored her administration’s efforts to turn the economy around in 2007 through the implementation of new revenue laws and the influx of investments brought about by renewed investor confidence in the country.

“Investment from abroad is pouring in. We have been cited by the Financial Times of London as the "Offshore Destination of the Year" and by the International Data Corporation as the top global outsourcing destination after India,” the President said.

“Our billion-dollar investment club includes Texas Instruments with its $1.6 billion wafer fabrication facility; two new shipyards of Korea’s Hanjin costing $3.7 billion, which makes us the fourth biggest shipbuilder in the world. Marubeni, Tokyo Electric and America’s AES have all invested billions of dollars in our power sector. And most recently, Mittal Global joined the ranks of Intel and Proctor and Gamble, to name but a few of our major investors,” she added.

The President stressed that in spite of her administration’s success in keeping the nation on the path to progress, she recognized that there is much more that needs to be accomplished to finally uplift the lives of the poor.

“2007 was the best year for the Philippine economy in over 30 years. Economic growth was 7.3 percent, as we have seen and you all know; a million new jobs were created; unemployment is down, poverty is down; the stock market is up; the peso is at its highest level in many, many years,” the President said.

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