The
Awkward Situation Of the Philippines
in
the Global Trade Arena
by Apolinario Villalobos
In a global trade arena of players, the
Philippines is a midget compared to the giants with advanced technology and
humungous economy. Even compared to fellow third-world countries whose
economies are anchored on sound nationalistically operated industries and modernistic
agricultural technology, the Philippines is like a guppy swimming among carps
in an aquarium. The Philippines has nothing to be proud of as regards
agriculture which should have been the foundation of its economy. It has wasted
the opportunity given by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), the
learning center for rice technology in Asia. It practically neglected its
natural resources whose exploitation by both the corrupt Filipinos and
foreigners has been left unchecked for so many years.
The government kept on encouraging the
influx of foreign investors instead of using the loaned money, the amount of
which escalates every year, in developing revenue generating programs for the
Filipinos. Instead, the government practically depended on the exported service
as the primary source of revenue in the form of remittances, and the BPOs which
can be relocated anytime and to any country, as necessary. Meanwhile, the
loaned money is allotted on projects that have no direct effect on the lot of
the Filipinos, and worse…on “projects”,
that serve as “reasons” for variously- named discretionary budgets. To date,
the Philippines has 5.9 trillion pesos total accountability due to incurred loans.
As globalization calls for better
management and modernization regardless of who are the managers, the government
is not stopping its effort in privatizing even crucial public utilities such as
hospitals for the sake of the two aforementioned reasons. The government did
not learn its lessons from the privatization of MERALCO and NAWASA, Petron, and
even the deregulation of the oil industry which worsened the woes of the
Filipinos. So, for the government, it doesn’t matter if the new administrators
or managers of the “offered” utilities are foreigners, for as long, corrupt and
inefficient management of these by Filipinos is stopped. Nationalism goes down
the drain!
Trade globalization eliminates “fences”
that separate countries for the sake of good trading among country members.
Such could have been ideal, if players have equal footing. But how can a
backward country like the Philippines, for instance, that just rely on
old-fashioned farming facilities be at par with countries that use tractors and
modern technique in irrigation? Such is the plight of the Philippines, a
glaring reason why it now imports rice even from its neighbors that used to be
at the tail end of statistics on progress a few years ago. The Golden Era of
agriculture during the time of Ferdinand Marcos is now relegated to the past
which many Filipinos today are wishing to be revived….which may just be left as
such, a wish.
The Administration of Marcos has approved
the rejection of economic liberalization policies proposed by the Congress in
1969. When Cory Aquino took over, she did the opposite by liberalizing economic
policies. The liberalization was continued by Fidel Ramos during his term which
also saw the height of privatization and selling of government properties to
foreign investors, even the historic Manila Hotel, which fortunately, was
successfully checked. The two past presidents set precedents enhanced by the
rest that followed them. And the result today is the economic quagmire where the
country is seemed to be permanently submerged from which no escape can be
perceived. Due to the liberalization of economic policies, practically, even
the toothpick comes from China!
What the present government is insisting to
show the people is a “robust economy”, hence, an improved credit standing. As
regards the robust economy, nothing can be felt by the ordinary Filipino, as
unemployment balloons every year due to the added number of unemployed
graduates and displaced OFWs returning from the Middle Eastern countries beset
with political unrest. Prices of basic commodities that have soared have no
hope of ever be brought down to their once affordable levels. As regards, the improved credit standing, if
the attitude of the government is just to rely on loans, especially, from the
World Bank that also determines projects on which their loaned money will be
spent, then the country will forever be shackled to this greedy international
institution that has the gull to make pronouncement that the economy of the
country on its upward trend! The government even tried its best to make use of
such pronouncement as an enhancement to the latest State of the Nation Address
(SONA) of the president, by holding the meeting with the World Bank a few days
before the SONA during which the encouraging statement was repeated. What a
shame!
The country is in a dilemma with the
approach of the 2016 elections. Nobody among the aspirants is worth the trust
of the Filipinos. Aspirants are either blubbermouths who rhetorically make
promises or show unbelievably “humble” and innocent faces on TV, but insinuates
strong desire to be on the topmost rung of the government. But what is clear,
is that they are strung together by a common thread – corruption.
This early, dynasties of political families,
are already treading the campaign trail for the 2016 election. These families
are so shameless as appearing on TV to smile their sweetest while enumerating
what they have accomplished, albeit questionable, for their constituents – with
the mileage paid for by the tax money. As if, a father and a son who are in the
different areas of governance are not enough, there are yet, the mother, the
daughter, the niece, the nephew, the in-laws who are distributed in different
agencies, as well as, local government units.
With the unabated corruption in the
government, what remains of our country may just be its name and the colors of
its flag, as it piteously battle with the giants in the global trading arena,
in order to survive on the pittance returns from the so-called “investments”
made by the so-called “brilliant Filipino leaders”.
