"But the Philippines Isn't Taiwan!" is Just Another Lame Excuse to Justify Filipino First Policy

Atlas Institute for Internal Affairs

 

Happy Double 10 to Taiwan! Chinese Filipino schools would take part in what's often called the Double 10 celebrations. October is the 10th month and it's the 10th day. I remember talking about how Taiwan succeeded by accepting FDIs and how the Filipino First Policy caused us to fail. The typical response I would get on American-made social media (of all places), such as Facebook, would be, "How many times do I need to stress that the Philippines isn't Taiwan. We are the Philippines! We are unique!" If those fools did a study, they may realize that there's a link between the Taiwanese aborigines and the Filipino aborigines (read here).

The Philippines should've learned from Taiwan during COVID-19

One of the best models for fighting COVID-19 was Taiwan. Sure, I'm more in favor of shifting to a parliamentary system and Taiwan is still a presidential country (with parliamentary features). Former Taiwanese president Tsai Ing Wen herself proved to be an example of combatting COVID-19. Former Taiwanese vice president Dr. Chen Chien Jen (an epidemiologist) also served as a model for combatting COVID-19. Some people were demanding this and that. The big question is would the people demanding this and that be willing to follow Dr. Chen's guidelines such as social distancing and practicing discipline? That's a question that they haven't answered until now. 

Maybe, if I told them about Dr. Chen's policies, they would've screamed, "But the Philippines isn't Taiwan!" followed by excuses such as how "unique" Filipinos and the Philippines are. The so-called Filipino uniqueness has been used to justify that the Philippines should just "learn everything by itself" and "not be tainted by foreign influence". Ironically, such statements can be found on again, you guessed it, American-made social media.

If the Philippines learned from Taiwan, maybe the epidemic wouldn't be so bad and would be under control. Incidents such as wasted vaccines would've been reduced. One must think about it there's still COVID-19 debt to pay. How do these Filipino First Policy advocates propose to pay for the COVID-19 debts? I bet Taiwan's now paying whatever debts they accumulated. What about the Philippines? Don't tell me that the Philippines can't learn from Taiwan how to pay that debt?

Taiwan's economic model can be learned by Filipinos even if the Philippines isn't Taiwan

The country that pioneered the British invention called milk tea is Taiwan. The Philippines is one of the hugest markets for the milk tea beverage. The Malaysian company Tealive also looked at the study of Bryan Loo of Loob Holdings. The study showed that Filipinos are huge lovers of milk tea. The bubble tea also originated from Taiwan. If one uses the excuse, "The Philippines isn't Taiwan!' then it's time for Filipinos to dump bubble tea or the use of tapioca pearls in some of their beverages. People who say, "But the Philippines isn't Taiwan!" but are enjoying the bubble milk tea need to rethink. "Then why are they enjoying a Taiwanese invention?" 

Taiwan's economic score according to the Heritage Foundation shows a better score compared to the Philippines:

Taiwan’s economic freedom score is 80.1, making its economy the 6th freest in the 2022 Index. Taiwan is ranked 3rd among 39 countries in the Asia–Pacific region, and its overall score is above the regional and world averages.

Taiwan is one of the few countries in the world to have experienced continuous economic growth during the past five years. Economic freedom has increased significantly during that period as well. With strong scores across the board boosted by increases in judicial effectiveness and labor freedom, Taiwan has recorded a 3.6-point overall gain of economic freedom since 2017 and has made it over the threshold into the top, “Free” Index category for the first time. Additional improvements in business freedom and financial freedom would propel economic freedom even higher.

Meanwhile, the Philippines is scoring lower: 

The Philippines’ economic freedom score is 61.1, making its economy the 80th freest in the 2022 Index. The Philippines is ranked 15th among 39 countries in the Asia–Pacific region, and its overall score is above the regional and world averages.

Economic growth in the Philippines slowed from 2017 through 2019, turned negative in 2020, and rebounded in 2021. Over the same five-year period, economic freedom has slipped. Dragged down by decreased scores for fiscal health and monetary freedom, the Philippines has recorded a 4.5-point overall loss of economic freedom since 2017 and has fallen to the bottom ranks of the “Moderately Free” countries. The tax burden is not heavy, and trade freedom is a bright spot, but judicial effectiveness and government integrity exhibit weaknesses.

Taiwan learned from Singapore. Why didn't the Philippines learn from Singapore? What's the use of citing the late Lee Kua Yew about the Marcoses while ignoring his sound economic advice (read here)? Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines (TECO) Representative Michael Peiyung Hsu who had given his urge to scrap off 60-40 from the Philippines. Here's an excerpt that I feel like highlighting in this post which was written last March 19, 2021, and should be a top priority:

THE GOVERNMENT should scrap its 40% foreign ownership limit in certain industries to encourage more investments particularly from Taiwan, according to its ambassador in the Philippines. 

“Please try your best to abolish the 40% restriction for foreigners in the Philippine Constitution,” Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines (TECO) Representative Michael Peiyung Hsu told an online forum on Wednesday. 

“It’s very painful for many because we’ve lost a lot of money,” he said at the forum hosted by the University of Asia and the Pacific School of Law and Governance and BusinessWorld. 

A Taiwanese science and technology university had considered opening a branch in Batangas province, but would not do so because of the limit, he added. 

The 1987 Constitution prescribes a 40-60% ownership ratio in favor of Filipinos for many sectors. Foreigners are also barred from owning land and media enterprises, among other limits. 

Philippine congressmen are debating on a proposal to ease economic restrictions of the Charter. 

Taiwanese investments in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) reached $2.66 billion (P127 billion) last year, $133 million of which went to the Philippines, Mr. Hsu said. 

ASEAN is Taiwan’s second-biggest trading partner after mainland China, with a total trading volume of $890 billion last year. 

Mr. Hsu said the Philippines is not efficiently linked to the global supply chain, which is a disincentive to Taiwanese investors. “Big companies have big concerns like how they are going to export their products overseas.” 

Another concern is high electricity costs, he said. 

Mr. Hsu said the Philippines has a “very good labor force.” Filipinos, he said, have the advantage of being able to speak English well, which is why companies still come to the Philippines. 

He said Taiwan wants to boost cooperation with ASEAN countries including the Philippines especially in agriculture, health, higher education, the environment and tourism as part of its New Southbound Policy under President Tsai Ing-wen. 

Mr. Hsu said the move is in response to geopolitical factors, regional integration and US-China trade wars, among other things.  

He said the Philippines is important to Taiwan not only because they are near each other, but also given that more than 150,000 migrant Filipinos are working there, mostly in Taiwan’s semiconductor industry.  

Taiwan is inviting more Filipinos and other Southeast Asians to work there given its aging population.  

Fools are bound to dismiss FDI simply as foreign imperialism. Do I need to stress out that imperialism isn't an act of conquest and investing isn't conquest (read here)? Fools from organizations like the Bayan Muna, Kabataan Partylist, League of Filipino Students, and Migrante International are either plain ignorant or have some agenda in their anti-FDI stance. I could show them that and they might say that Hsu is simply "trying to invade the Philippines". However, they might be seen hanging out at Chatime or Gong Cha after saying that. Isn't that plain self-contradictory?

Think about how much the Philippines can learn from Taiwan. True, the Philippines has a different climate and culture from Taiwan. However, it doesn't mean that the Philippines can't learn new stuff such as new science and technology, many of these might help in the agricultural sector. A shame that Communist Vietnam has been learning new technologies for agriculture (read here) while the Philippines is still stuck with an obsession with protectionism while typing anti-FDI rants on imported platforms and imported social media (read here). 

Besides, that hoax of Taiwanese fetus soup was already debunked years ago. It was even said to be in China but that too was debunked. I guess they'll all use Ad Hominems and red herrings based on Internet hoaxes, to justify their blunder. It's pretty much like the anti-vaxxers who still insist on falsified studies. If anything, there are people who love to enjoy their blunder. The facts are facts and their feelings will never change facts. If they want to reject the Philippines learning from Taiwan from a disproven hoax--they're just showing how they're the real fools indeed!