‘How low can you go...’

The peso is making history

“Don’t panic,” President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. told Filipinos as the peso hit a record-low P64.170 to the US dollar on 27 October.

It is easy to urge calm when you are not calculating whether your salary will make it to payday.

Marcos pointed to the rising oil prices. The explanation is real. So is the government’s responsibility. Global pressures may weaken the peso, but they do not pay the bills they made more expensive.

A weaker peso raises import costs. Fuel becomes dearer. Transport and food follow suit. The exchange rate is a number on a screen until it reaches the market stall.

What must the President do?

Present a credible plan to contain food and transport costs, deliver targeted aid to vulnerable households, address supply bottlenecks and protect consumers without exhausting our foreign reserves or compromising the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ independence.

He cannot order the peso to rise. He can demand that the government prepare for the consequences.

Filipinos do not need instructions on how to feel about a record-low currency. They need evidence that the one in charge understands what it is costing them.

“Don’t panic” is not a policy. It is asking, begging for more patience.

How much more patience does this administration expect Filipinos to pay for?

— Jason Mago

Master of masterminds?

In science, when a machine continues to malfunction after its “master mind” was removed, the next question is what or who else is controlling it.

Martin Romualdez was arrested over alleged plunder. He denies wrongdoing. Yet controversies over budget allocations persist.

Allocables, congressional insertions, legislative pork, presidential pork, Unprogrammed Appropriations.

Different mechanisms, but the same question: Who controls the money?

The Supreme Court struck down Congress’ P449.5-billion increase in unprogrammed appropriations in 2024. More troubling was its finding that certain lump-sum allocations effectively gave the Executive powers to identify projects after the budget was enacted.

This is where presidential pork enters the equation: the discretionary spending authority concentrated in the Executive, beyond the familiar congressional allocations.

Congressmen denying knowledge of questionable appropriations must explain their failure of oversight.

The President proposes the budget, approves or vetoes appropriations and oversees their implementation. These powers warrant scrutiny, although they do not establish criminal involvement.

If Romualdez was the alleged mastermind, who else controlled the machinery?

What decisions were made under his cousin?

— Carl Magadia

Don’t panic, it’s organic

The Philippine peso plunged to a record closing low of P64.17 against the US dollar on Tuesday. Every day, the currency seems to hit a new low.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. tells Filipinos, “Don’t panic.”

Well, Mr. President, we don’t.

Those who might be panicking are the businessmen trading in dollars, importers paying in dollars and companies directly exposed to the weakening peso.

Ordinary Filipinos? We suffer the consequences.

We continue to buy fuel, food and other necessities affected by the rising cost of imports. We bear the secondhand effects through higher price tags that hit our wallets firsthand.

Marcos tries to calm the public, assuring Filipinos that his administration will defend the peso. The explanation? The dollar is strong, and global markets are beyond our control.

Of course. You cannot control the dollar. But you can address the conditions at home that make every price increase harder to bear.

Low wages. High living costs. Poor public services. Unequal access to basic necessities. The same old system. The same old suffering.

So no, Marcos, we won’t panic. We suffer. We adjust. We endure.

Why would we panic when we have grown accustomed to hardship?

Ordinary wage earners have no time to panic. We are too busy figuring out how to stretch our salaries, pay our bills and survive another day, while still daring to dream of a decent life. Not even a luxurious one.

We do not panic because life is easy. We do not panic because we have learned, time and again, how to make ends meet.

So chill, Mr. President.

Your people won’t panic. They’re too busy surviving.

— Vivienne Angeles