By Amado P. Macasaet
Except for occasional rallies of groups in front of the US embassy on Roxas boulevarde has been no massive protests against imperialism as a market system.
We might have finally realized the fact that we cannot live and prosper in isolation from the rest of the world made smaller by the World Trade Organization.
Otherwise, the strident “nationalists” would have protested the decision of the Supreme Court allowing foreign investors to fully own mining operations in contract with the government.
President Aquino signed into law a bill allowing foreigners to fully own all types of banks.
In the words of the so-called nationalists, if they were as active today as they were two decades ago, they would march on the streets and denounce the invitation to the “imperialists” who will, in their twisted minds, control the Philippine economy.
Not a whimper has been heard. On the contrary, the new law that allows foreigners to come and own a business is welcomed by business that now appears to welcome open competition as the most effective way of helping develop the economy at a faster clip.
The first sign of waning nationalism appeared when Congress repealed the Retail Trade Nationalization Act. On specified capital, foreigners are welcome to the retail trade business.
Before this law was passed, the retail trade was limited to Filipino citizens. The Chinese particularly those coming from Xiamen were probably the best in the world in the retailing business. The law banned them from the trade.
That might have been the reason the Chinese in the Philippines went into manufacturing and banking among the more important lines of business. Instead of protesting the fact that nearly all of the country’s billionaires are of Chinese or
Spanish descent, the “nationalists” welcomed them in silence.
Perseverance made them billionaires. Lucio Tan, for example, a chemical engineer by education started as a clerk in the Bataan Cigar and Cigarette Factory to become one of the richest businessmen in the country.
Andrew Tan came to the Philippines from Hong Kong armed with nothing but higher education. As far as I can recall, his first venture was Far East Consolidated Distillery that produced what was presented as whiskey called Andy Player.
His presence is now felt everywhere. He has a community that hosts the biggest number of foreign companies in the business process outsourcing industry.
Still, the Leftist Movement is perceived to be a threat to the stability of the state.
The “magnet” that attracts the poor to the Leftist Movement is poverty and oppression. The growth of the economy with the help of foreign investors may, in time wipe out or at least reduce poverty in the Philippines.
Not too long ago, the fad of so-called patriots -- lovers of country and freedom --,but not producing an ounce of food is pushing what they called cause-oriented philosophy of peace and prosperity.
What is the cause? What is the orientation? The cause is the false belief the Philippines is for the Filipinos. The orientation is revulsion of foreign interests from coming into the economy.
President Carlos P. Garcia’s philosophy of governance was his Filipino First policy.
It might have given him the voters’ mandate for the presidency he inherited from the airplane crash that killed President Ramon Magsaysay.
What else did the Filipino Fist policy give to fill the empty stomachs of the poor?
Hardly any but food was easier to come by simply because in Garcia’s time there were fewer mouths to feed.
Unfortunately, the task of providing food, education and health care for the poor Filipino will be more difficult than it is in other countries that prospered by the sweat of the brows of its people or with the help of foreign investors.
The worst enemy of growth in this country is the uncontrolled population explosion.
If the growth in the number of people is not checked we may be running as fast as we can only to stay where we are.
The postulation of British philosopher Thomas Malthus that moral suasion has to be applied if the natural check to population growth -- wars and pestilence -- disappeared, has not been given a thought at all by the leaden of the state.
What I understand from Matlhusian theory -- now a reality staring us in the face -- is the fact that the need of people for food, education and health care, will rise geometrically against man s capability to produce them.
In my belief it is the hurry to produce food -- and money -- that forces the application of chemicals that, as seen by physicians and scientists, causes incurable disease such as cancer.
Growth and prosperity becomes meaningless and in fact becomes a curse if they kill people rich and poor alike.
Since death is more certain than taxes, people would unknowingly prefer to die of chemical poisoning with food in their stomachs.
Slow, painful deaths from chemicals cannot be the price that must be paid for economic prosperity.
As a weekend farmer, I noticed how several colonies of bees disappeared. It happened in the summer time when mango trees are flowering . Bees, I am told, have their own highways in the sky. They travel 50 kilometers in search of nectar.
They must have sucked the nectar of mango flowers sprayed with chemicals. The bees eventually died.
I conclude without fear of contraction we would all be dead by now if we were as small as the bees or little birds that began to disappear after the Bureau of Plant Industry sprayed with chemicals green coffee beans massively destroyed by borers.
The welcome signs that I see in trying to make the economy grow faster is the heavier reliance on the services sector including banking and what appears to be determined efforts to make manufacturing more competitive.
These sectors earn foreign exchange. They create jobs. Foreign investors play a big role in these endeavors. These sectors do not use chemicals.
Strangely, the strident nationalists never questioned the use of chemicals or opposed the rapid increase of people that cannot be fed.
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Email: amadomacasaet@yahoo.com
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