Beyond the Short-Term: Fiscal Realism in Public Policy

I remember some time in 2014 when a respected professor of mine, who happened to be a pastor of an influential senator in the country, gave advice about teachers' salary increases. As I retrieved my files, I stumbled upon my reply:

That's true, sir. Corruption is part of the inherent nature of bureaucratic management. To completely eradicate it is an impossible task. Minimizing it is a worthy goal, and that's why we have been advocating for the legislation of FOI to provide a built-in mechanism for transparency and accountability.

Concerning the salary increase for teachers, this may appear good as a short-term solution for a particular sector in society. And add to it the fact of increasing prices of goods and services, and we cannot but sympathize with the economic struggles of our public teachers. However, I am thinking of its economic impact in relation to other sectors of society and from a long-term perspective. What about if other sectors of society clamor for similar increases? How about if soldiers, doctors, nurses, police, firemen, barangay tanod, janitors, construction workers, street cleaners, garbage collectors, embalmers, midwives, social workers, and everyone else ask for an additional P10,000? Where shall the government get the funds to provide for all of this? Is it even achievable? The logic is clear: not everyone will benefit from a law similar to this. In the long run, instead of reducing the purse and the size of the government, it gets bigger, and citizens are increasingly more dependent on it.