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We’ve been hearing about the government’s aspiration to make the Philippines an upper middle-income country within the term of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. To the ordinary Filipino and some pessimists, the goal is ambitious and another pipe dream of the administration.

We just celebrated the 125th anniversary of Philippine Independence. Actually, the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) has decided to organize a multi-year commemoration to celebrate our independence and our nationhood from 2023 to 2026. The idea is to highlight not just one event but a multitude of “events and realities that gave birth to the Filipino nation from the proclamation of Philippine Independence on June 12, 1898 in Kawit, Cavite, up to the end of the First Philippine Republic on March 23, 1901 in Palanan, Isabela.”

The inflation rate to a certain degree is predictable. Prices as measured by the consumer price index readily go up in times of a supply shock, as in the case of a turbulent global oil price market. They also spike seasonally—or when prices of commodities such as rice and vegetables increase on lean harvests because of adverse climate like typhoons that destroy crops and disrupt the supply chain.