"We always hope that a good leader will do something miraculous to suddenly cure a disease that has been

lingering for decades", said by Isagani Cruz. The sad reality is, there is no quick fix to solve the economic crisis and the different problems we are facing in our society. There is no miracle cure for poverty, inadequate housing, poor health, underemployment, unemployment and the long list goes on. We can't just fix these problems overnight; we have to work hard hand in hand to solve it for the betterment of our country.

To become a president isn't an easy job. It is a noble position which can only be taken by those who have the "will" to make a change. A change which isn't only in favor of the lucky few but in favor to majority. If I will be the president of this state, my top priority is education. I must educate my people for this nation to continue to survive. Thus, there should be more funding to education that would enough to cater the needs of our Filipino students. My aim is to produce globally competitive students in response to globalization. Students who are armed with sufficient knowledge, skills and values that can help in contributing to our country's economic development, impart in alleviating poverty and become productive members of our society in general and help their respective families in particular. These students can help in economic growth because they are skilled workers. That means, they can help in augmenting our economy because they are able to work. They can add up to our working force because aside from capital investment, we need human resources to produce goods and services necessary for our survival. In this connection, I'd see to it that there is university-industry collaboration to make sure that the universities are producing what is really needed by our industry to avoid job mismatch.

It is stated by O'connon that no nation's economic system is completely independent. The economy of one nation can affect, and be affected by the economics of other nations. Thus, there is a need for us to link with other countries to continue growing. Lasan mentioned that the untapped essence of globalization is for all countries to put forward their best wares in the global market to offset the imbalance of competition on the global playing field. Since no economic system can stand alone and

the world is becoming a melting pot of competencies from different people in the world. Why not show our best assets? That is our people. Filipinos are known for our good communicative skills in English, honesty and hardworking. We can use these advantages as our edge among other countries. Our overseas Filipino workers are our modern day heroes. They will help in our economic growth through their remittances. Philippines is known for its beautiful and breath-taking views, let's use it to attract tourists to create job opportunities. We are an agricultural country; let's have agricultural productivity by producing our own crops through giving farmers with programs that will help improve their work and products. One way is also by providing technological changes that would help them produce more products with the use of fewer resources. Through this, it would prevent our country from importing rice. O'connor said that international trade is the voluntary exchange of goods and services among people in different nations. But there should be a favorable balance of trade. There should be more exports than imports. As what Lasan mentioned, we could recover the strides we made at the International Rice Institute some decades ago; we may able to capture the magic of this grain product as our advantage in agriculture. We could also export our exotic fruits which should come up to international standards of export trade. So, even in the midst of globalization we shouldn't forget who we are and what we can offer to the world. As the world is becoming a global village, let us showcase the best that we have and we can show. As the saying goes, "think global but act local", let's be globally unique and competitive and avoid running after the shadows of what the other countries are doing. Let's seize what we have Our workers should also get real wages. As what Charles Santiago suggested, if the underpaid workers will get their real wages they will be able to meet their basic needs. The demand of these basic needs will soon increase thus, providing the producers to produce more. The increase demand of thse goods will help in our economic growth. It is perceived that low incomes will lead to low standard of living; to avoid it wage increase is badly needed. In order also to reduce poverty, there should be job opportunities for the people. One way of it is through foreign direct investments. We can attract foreign establishments through promoting economic stability because the investors won't lose their confidence in the financial market. One way also to attract

investors is through upgrading our infrastructure. In order to build those state of the art infrastructures and facilitates, there should be strict implementation of tax law to generate more funds. There should be equal distribution of our nation's wealth through providing our people with programs and services health care services and transportation facilities. We can build more government health centers and hospitals, public schools and universities, roads, bridges, harbors, airports and other transportation facilities if we generate more revenue. We could also upgrade our herbal medicines through research and development. One coping strategy in our finance is by reducing our spending and save.

But a president shouldn't only possess cognitive ability but he should also have a heart. A heart that loves the poor and less fortunate. So, as a president my priority is also to uplift the quality of lives of my people. I won't let corruption hinder this. As the head of the state, honesty should start from me. If there are no corrupt politicians, I bet Philippines is a better place to live in where people are secured of their health, and wealth life.

The president isn't the only one responsible for our economic development because it is a collaborative work of all the people living the country. Bertrand Russel once said, "the only thing that will redeem mankind is cooperation." The only thing that will redeem this nation is unity. Let's revive our "bayanihan spirit" that is uniquely a Filipino trait. Let the government love the people and let the people love the government. We all want change, let us make it possible to achieve our common goal, that is to improve the quality of human life through an increase of the availability of distribution of basic life, being able to sustain the basic needs, increase the level of living and productivity through higher wages, quality education and provision of more jobs and lastly attaining a high level of growth in our economy and be able to compete in the global arena without losing our own identity and values. After all, we just want a better life for me, you and all of us.

Cebu Normal University Osmea Boulevard, Cebu City

Final Project in Economics

(If I will be the President)
Submitted by: Christine B. Acua BSEd-Filipino III

Submitted to: Mr. Randy Pulvera