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Celebrating Philippine Independence Doesn't Mean Rejecting FDI

The Kahimyang Project

It's June 12 again tomorrow, isn't it? It was said, "The 100th year of Philippine Independence only happens once." There were even a lot of jokes about Philippine Independence Day during the 1990s. Now, it's the 126th celebration of Philippine Independence Day. One could always brag it's the first country in Asia to be independent. However, the Philippines gained real independence from foreign powers on June 4, 1946. The United States of America (USA) never granted the Philippines independence immediately. There was still the Commonwealth government and the Japanese occupation. Some people may use the Philippine Independence celebrations to say no to economic charter change. 

It's one thing to defend the Philippines from foreign intrusion in the West Philippine Sea. It can be easy to talk about POGOs--these are obviously illegal operations. However, some people can be foolish enough to confuse invasion with investment. One article I wrote explains why using Alice Leal Guo as a reason to say no to economic cha cha is a slippery slope. Some fat fool on Facebook is even saying that if charter change happens, China will take over. I won't mention his name to avoid direct confrontation when possible. However, I contest the idea because, once again, it's a slippery slope.

Some fools may say the Philippines can never become "truly independent" with economic charter change. Some fools say that when an economic charter change happens, that is by allowing foreigners to own 100% of their businesses without finding a local partner, they commit a huge slippery slope. Some immediately assume that it means (1) Filipino businesses will immediately fall because of foreign competition, (2) that because not majority of Filipinos own the businesses--the country automatically loses its sovereignty, (3) that FDIs will run off with the profits leaving the Philippines with nothing (they do have a poor understanding of what profits mean, (4) that FDIs mean a new form of imperialism (and some even assume that China and/or the US will take over the Philippines), and (5) that Filipinos will be slaves to their own country. I believe I barely covered the tip of the iceberg. It's probably not even a tenth or a twentieth of the reasons I may find on Facebook!

Philippine Anti-Fascist League

The idea of FDIs as invaders is a real lack of common sense (read why here). Even the words investor and invader are two different things. Above is a meme from the defunct first page of the Philippine Anti-Fascist League (PAFL). PAFL's second page has less engagement from Facebook users. This is plain foolishness because the words invest and invade are totally different. If one thinks about Philippine history, the Filipino natives (way before the Philippines was named Philippines) traded with foreigners. The Filipino natives already traded with China. China didn't have any history of having conquered the Philippines. The pre-colonial natives also traded with Indians, Arabs (who managed to Islamize Mindanao), Indonesians (and some settlers were indeed Indonesians), and Thais. The pre-colonial natives of the Philippines traded with foreigners before Spain colonized it. The difference between an investor and an invader is huge. 

If we're going to look at economically progressive independent nations--they all had some form of trade. Vietnam achieved independence from France but continued to do business with foreigners. The late Nguyen Duy Cong established the Doi Moi or restoration policy. Vietnam was no longer colonized but it accepted FDIs. In the book From Third World to First, the late Lee Kuan Yew talked about his encounters with Nguyen aka Do Muoi. LKY also noted in his book that had he waited for Singaporean businesses to become stable before opening to FDI, they'd have all starved. Some will say it was only because Singapore had no natural resources. However, Vietnam, a country rich in natural resources, followed Singapore. Singapore has effective economic restrictions such as the Green Singapore Policy. 

Accepting FDIs doesn't mean the Philippines "gives up control to foreigners". Instead, the illustration is like the shopping mall. The mall won't give its space to tenants--only lease them to tenants. Just because an FDI doesn't need to look for a local oligarch to be its partner, doesn't mean it's exempt from following rules. FDIs will still be required to follow the local policies. There's a statement, "In Rome, do as the Romans do." There will still be restrictions such as registering their businesses, paying taxes, and following labor laws. They will still need to pay rent to their lessors, pay their suppliers, maintain a minimum balance in the bank, and pay any money they owe anyone. They are still subject to rules and regulations nonetheless.

I'd like to stress that Pinoy Pride economics has done more harm than good (read here). Pinoy Pride has only rejected better living standards. That's why I even wrote if such people are willing to eat rotten meat in the name of Pinoy Pride. In fact, Pinoy Pride is one of the reasons why the Philippines is left behind by the ASEAN neighbors. No amount of blaming will make the Philippines richer either (read here).
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