Skip to main content

"Filipino First Policy" Has NO PLACE in the Rising Asian 21st Century

I guess nobody saw the Asian 21st Century coming, right? China was once a poor nation but look at it now. Vietnam was once a poor nation but look at it now. Singapore was once a poor nation but look at it now. The late great Lee Kuan Yew wrote his book From Third World to First. I'm afraid some people have been using it to go against the presidency of Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. while ignoring what else Lee Kuan Yew had to say. Lee Kuan Yew described the Filipino press to be rambunctious on pages 304-305 which I agree. I'm afraid that the Filipino press may have had a hand in getting rid of any economic or political reforms that could help the Philippines. Yet, one policy has been holding back the Philippines for decades and yes, it's the Filipino First Policy. 

Reviewing the Filipino First Policy and why it has no place in the rising Asian 21st century


I remembered how the values education subject taught Carlos P. Garcia's stupid Filipino First Policy as a Filipino value (read here). I guess colonial mentality is often confused with buying something foreign. Colonial mentality, for a start, is when you prefer everything imported or foreign because it's imported or foreign. Meanwhile, it's not a colonial mentality when you like something imported or foreign for its quality. Yet, people tend to say "colonial mentality" to me when I talk about what's local if what's local is of bad quality. The irony is that they're using social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter while using what may be the latest iPhone. Talk about the incredible irony! In the digital age, they should see that the Filipino First Policy caused the Philippines to fail. 

The Philippines had its potential before. The Philippines was once richer than China, Singapore, or Vietnam. Some people used to get domestic helpers from China. Today, China is getting domestic helpers from the Philippines. The Philippines underwent colonization with the United States of America (USA) during the Commonwealth Period. Yet, Manuel Luis Quezon foolishly said, "I would rather have Hell run by Filipinos than Heaven run by Americans." There we finally had it. The Filipino First Policy came to be with the guise of "with malice towards none". Yet, the policy has malice towards foreigners such as the excessive 60-40 policy. Protectionism had held the Philippines back while the other Asian countries have risen. Today, the Philippines was overtaken by countries once poorer than it was! Now, Filipinos are flying to these countries once poorer than it looking for jobs.

We have "thought leaders" and "think tanks" still stuck with the third-world mentality. I'm amazed at how the IBON Foundation "think tank" still believes in protectionism. I'm amazed at how IBON has a deadly obsession with cash handouts (read here). Former senator Teodoro A. Casino and Neri Colmenares (both members of Bayan Muna) are still insisting that protectionism is better. Sometime this 2022, I watched the video of Carwyn Candila of the League of Filipino Students (LFS) in his renunciation of the Public Services Act of 2022. I'm amazed at how these people are still stuck in what Lee Kuan Yew called "third-world mentality" in From Third World to First. Lee Kuan Yew defied such people in his day and look where it took Singapore. Yes, Garcia's Filipino First Policy is pretty much a third-world mentality! 


Garcia's mentality was practically, "Let's do everything ourselves." I think he even equated letting more foreign investments in as the nation losing its soul. Did the guy take a few pointers from Chairman Mao Zedong when he ruled China? I even beg to differ in calling him the most illustrious son of Bohol. This is a far contrast from what Lee Kuan Yew would later deliver in a speech in December 1980. Amazing that Lee Kuan Yew, a democratic statesman, still praised Communist leader, Deng Xiaoping as a great man. Deng said, "Let's stop trying to do everything ourselves." Deng is also known for his black cat and white cat quote. Deng didn't care too much about the cat's color as long as it got rid of the mice that plagued the place.  

This is the problem of the Filipino First Policy. It's very similar to the Great Leap Forward program of Mao in China. What a chilling thing that a few months later after Garcia made his statement--Mao also launched the failed Great Leap Forward. Mao tried to self-industrialize China but it only led to failure. Deng, having been part of it, saw its failure. Though the consequences aren't as fatal--no one can deny that the Filipino First Policy has held the Philippines backward. Yet, people who praise Garcia tend to shift the blame to where it doesn't belong in defense of it. Some may blame the rich for their plight. They might even blame the first-world countries (instead of poor economic policies) why the Philippines being left behind. I guess it's only fair enough that if Garcia gets buried at the Libingan Ng Mga Bayani (Graveyard of the Heroes) then so does Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. Both Garcia and Marcos Sr. were heroes all right--heroes of economic protectionism. 

The Philippines should learn from its neighboring countries instead

Listen to him and those who think alike, not the social media gossipers!

The Philippines is part of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) yet it's still left behind. The reason has to be still sticking to what Lee Kuan Yew called a third-world mentality. The development economists of Lee Kuan Yew's day all taught that foreign investments are bad. Kishore Mahbubani in The Singapore Economic Model soon said in his statement that nations failed to learn. Some foolish people say that the Philippines can't imitate Singapore due to the size difference. However, we saw how China and Vietnam, two Communist countries, learned from Singapore and became powerhouses. Though, China right now needs to really get rid of the ban on Facebook and Google (or ease censorship to a certain extent) if it still expects to become a powerhouse. Meanwhile, Vietnam learned from the late Nguyen Duy Cong (aka Do Muoi) with his Doi Moi policy.

Instead, we need to dump the Filipino First Policy. I've heard a lot of those excuses. There's the lie that only foreigners will get rich. There's the lie that foreign investors are invaders of national sovereignty. There's the lie that Filipino businesses will go bankrupt. There's the lie that foreign investment means neglecting local businesses. There's the lie that foreign investors will not employ locals. Lies, lies, and more lies. All those scare tactics are really built on lies (read here). As Mahbubani states that foreign investors create jobs, bring capital, bring markets, and they train and develop our labor force. What Mahbubani said is a very stark contrast to what Hilario G. Davide Jr. said in regard to foreign investors.

Deng got rid of Mao's obsolete "China First Policy". Instead of doing everything on their own--Deng bought some Boeing 707 and Tridents. Deng invited investors to teach China new skills. Deng met with Lee  Kuan Yew and things started to change for the better. Do Muoi learned from Lee Kuan Yew and Vietnam has become a powerhouse. I'm not a bit surprised at Vietnam's rise after it modified its Communist manifesto. Do Muoi ends up becoming another known economic reformer. I'd say that both Deng and Do Muoi are great men in spite of being Communists themselves. 

Marcos Jr. now has a tremendous responsibility as the 17th president. Marcos Jr. did meet with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. I believe Marcos Jr. must now make economic liberalization a policy. Nobody would want to invest if they were subject to ridiculous restrictions. Speaking of which, Lee Hsien Loong had shaken hands with several former Philippine such as Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the late Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III, and Rodrigo R. Duterte. That's why I want to shift to a parliamentary system--good leaders may get more terms while bad leaders may get disqualified (read here). The legislative should move forward towards economic liberalization. That means it's time to kick out the Filipino First Policy.

Instead, it's time to have the Philippines fitting into the Asian 21st Century. It will be a Philippines that will be investing and welcoming investments without unnecessary hurdles. We're seeing some Filipino companies (such as Jollibee and Universal Robina Corporation) becoming multinational corporations (MNCs). There's no reason why the Philippines should still suffer from excessive restrictions. Healthy competition is good for business. It's because competition exists that I can eat a delicious Jollibee hamburger. Saying competition ruins quality is stupid. A lack of competition is why some areas of the Philippines are still weak. It's because of competition that there will be more choices. The Philippines should not follow the old third-world view. Instead, it's time for the Philippines to follow what Mahbubani would call it, the Asian 21st Century. 

References

Books

"From Third World to First--The Singapore Story: 1965-2000) by Lee Kuan Yew
Harpers Collins Publishers

Videos

"The Singapore economic model - VPRO documentary - 2009"  by VRPO Documentary (September 8, 2018)

Websites

"Ex-chief justice warns PH will be a 'colony' if foreign capital limits are lifted" by Trisha Billones (January 29, 2018) 

"LEE KUAN YEW TALKS ABOUT THE FAILURE OF MAOISM AND DENG XIAOPING’S SHIFT TOWARDS CAPITALISM"
http://correctphilippines.org/lky_mao_deng/

"Long overdue laws finally passed" by Andrew J. Masigan (April 06, 2022)

Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Get Stuck with EDSA, End Up Like Nokia

  Yes, we should never forget what history teaches us. A classmate of mine, back in high school, wrote a simple and blunt essay called "History: A Teacher". I doubt he still has a soft copy, given it was already more than 20 years ago. I'd like to quote Duterte critic Andrew James Masigan wrote this in  Philippine Star --something that should remain relevant: I would never undervalue the 1987 Constitution. It dismantled the legal framework of a repressive regime and established the democratic institutions we enjoy today. For this, I am grateful. The 1987 Constitution was crafted with the best of intentions. It sought to put the Filipino first in all aspects of governance and to level the playing field amongst sectors and peoples.  But it is far from perfect. It failed to consider the importance of foreign capital and technologies and the stiff competition we would have to face to obtain them. In short, its economic provisions were short-sighted . So despite the Constitut...
Read more

#SahodItaasPresyoIbaba Economics' Bad Accounting

I would like to apologize in advance to my readers. The picture I'm presenting is in Tagalog, and not all my readers speak Tagalog. I would translate the picture's text into English for convenience. It says:   "Ano ang bumubuo sa mga presyo?" means "What comprises the price?" "Gastos ng materyales" means materials expense "Gastos sa kasangkapan" means depreciation expense ""Gaston sa pasahod" means salary expense "Kapitalista" means capitalist Renta is well, rent "Kayang pababain ang presyo" means "Prices can be lowered". It says that capitalists (industrialists, landlords, bankers) and elitist governments are part in the gross profit. Get rid of excise taxes (either permanently or temporarily) for the prices of goods and services. In the times of crisis, in the burden of sacrifices, we need to be watchful for capacity. Whatever savings for times of difficulty by the workers and countrymen, the...
Read more

Past Chinese School Education in the Philippines was Based on "Sǐ Jì Yìng Bèi"

  Chinoys of my age (and older) may remember these textbooks. I called them as the "symbol of trauma". It was memorizing something without understanding it . One would just memorize (without understanding it) because it was typical. Not being able to memorize what was assigned? Get a bad grade? One can expect physical punishment like hitting the hand with a ruler or chili in the mouth. Chinese language teachers are stereotypically strict . The language textbooks (above) are what were used during the 1990s to the early 2000s. As I wrote it, the Sinjiang textbooks aren't effective in teaching Mandarin , in a world where Mandarin has over a billion speakers!  There's a Chinese proverb that says, "死記硬背 sǐ jì yìng bèi" or "Memorize to the point of death". That's exactly what those textbooks are. Memorize to the point of death! Okay, it may sound exaggerated. However, that's how Chinese language teachers in the Philippines were made to teach the ...
Read more

Migrante International's Really Bad Economic Literacy

March 17 (which is tomorrow) seems to be an unofficial holiday for some people, right? I'm sickened that the late Flor Contemplacion has been treated like she's some national heroine (and thankfully, tomorrow isn't a  holiday) even after Singapore had proven her guilt. A movie was made by Joel Lamangan called The Flor Contemplacion Story . The call for Migrante (Migrant) International has been to remember Flor even after several years. What's not too surprising was to learn that Flor's sons were all arrested for drug-related charges. Even her eldest son died while in prison. You have Migrante International wanting to end the labor export policy. However, a post by Migrante really shows how this group fails basic economics. I will not post the whole press statement but one part that made my eyes roll. >> Further opening the country’s economy to foreign ownership and control will worsen the exploitation of our people and the environment without creating a susta...
Read more

Remembering the Late Jesse Robredo's Quote on Systems That Force People to be Good

It's been some time since Jesse M. Robredo died too soon. Hopefully, his wife Atty. Maria Leonor Gerona-Robredo is true to her word, in her willingness to amend the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines, for the sake of foreign investments. It's a shame I never wrote about the late great man. The CoRRECT Movement on Facebook gave this important note on Robredo's life. Robredo said, "It's not enough for an official to be good. There has to be a system that forces them to be good." Whether or not Robredo was for charter change or a few constitutional amendments, I can't tell. For some racists, let me remind them that Robredo's real surname is Lim  and his paternal grandfather is the late Lim Pay Co.  In terms of Robredo's credentials (and I tend to sometimes brag about the credentials of those I quote), here's what the City Government of Naga website says: He is an Edward Mason Fellow and a graduate of Masters in Public Administration at the John...
Read more

Filipino First Education Created the Fixed Mindset Over Growth Mindset Mentality

Tomorrow is Bonifacio Day. It's effortless to say that Filipino First Policy works. I wouldn't be surprised if Andres Bonifacio gets used as a poster boy. However, Bonifacio worked for British and German investors . I'd like to talk about how decades of Filipino First Policy compromised our education system. Some idiot on Facebook said which I'll paraphrase to avoid getting personal. The idiot said, "If you let foreigners invest here, can Filipinos afford it?" The same idiot also scorns the law of supply and demand (read my post discussing why that's plain silly  here ). People who believe in #SahodItaasPresyoIbaba must first prove it works by opening such stores nationwide, to show that the Philippines doesn't need FDI to succeed (read here ). Of course, I can expect them to say "It's the government's responsibility to raise salaries without raising the prices of goods." That's just plain bad accounting and finance too! Andrew Ja...
Read more

Refuse to Do Business with a Person Who Looks Down on Menial Work

If there's any reason why some people are angry with the rich--it's because of rich people who look down on the poor. Some people are born rich without knowing the struggles of the one who originally acquired the wealth. Some rich parents make the fatal mistake of making their children feel entitled. Meanwhile, some rich parents make their children do the right thing by not waiting until things get too far. Some rich parents end up making their children attend middle-class schools, do summer jobs, work as employees in their own businesses, and teach them the value of wealth, especially by narrating the struggles before they got wealthy. In looking for a business partner, I feel it's very important to look at the attitude of these people. How do they treat people who do menial work? I could imagine looking forward to a business contract. However, it turns out that the potential business partner is a spoiled brat . Maybe, it's already a red alarm if I'm invited to an ...
Read more

Dayang Daya: The Case of Five-Six Lending Services Roaming to Collect Christmas/New Year Debts by January

I remember during the late 1990s when the song "Dayang Dayang" (Princess of the First Degree) was played on the radio. The origins are often debated whether or not it was from Muslim Mindanao or from the other neighboring countries. The Philippines has had settlers also from Malaysia and Indonesia. A parody cover by the late Yoyoy Villame was called Dayang Daya or Cheating Cheating. It was probably making fun of the Indian five-six lending business. Indians tend to be called Bombay because of the location known as Mumbai. I even made the mistake of referring to Indians as "Bombays" more than once. The song "Dayang Daya" does talk about the five-six lending services. It does target a lot of gullible people. I even became nearly distrustful of Indians in college for quite some time.  I wrote how a Merry Christmas may lead to an Unhappy New Year due to debt burden (read here ). I tend to say to myself, "Somebody hasn't paid their debt!" every ti...
Read more

Will Opening the Philippines to 100% FDI Lead to Foreign Monopoly?

Monopoly - Hasbro I was looking at the CoRRECT Movement Moderated Public Forum on Facebook. I found more illogical arguments by a certain troll in the forum named Juan Dalisay Jr.--the writer of the Superphysics One website. However, this isn't the first argument I ran into as I've seen arguments from Kabataan Partylist and the League of Filipino Students on Facebook. They have claimed that foreign direct investments (FDIs) will lead to exploitation, only they will get rich, that they will rape resources, and an even funnier claim is that they will lead to monopolies . Some people, even fools, should be allowed to defend themselves at CoRRECT Moderated Public Forum than just live in their echo chamber of Facebook pages. However, Kishore Mahbubani and the late Lee Kuan Yew had long disproven that . The testimony is in the book From Third World to First by Lee himself. Mahbubani said foreign investors create jobs, bring capital, and teach new skills. I wonder if protectionist adv...
Read more