Has Passing Down Hatred for Singapore (Because of Flor Contemplacion) Economically Helped the Philippines?
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| PEH.ph |
Some time ago, I wrote about VIVA Films' uploading of The Flor Contemplacion Story on their official YouTube channel. One may look at the films they produced, which probably dwell on exploiting human misery. Who can remember the highly-sensationalized Vizconde Massacre? VIVA produced two films based on the Vizconde Massacre incident called The Vizconde Massacre Story series. Fortunately, no third film was passed. They also screened Jacqueline Comes Home (read my review here)-- a film that probably never gave justice to the Chiong Sisters. Okay, I'm not buying the story that the sisters are alive, based on the fact that they do have a sister who looks like the presumed deceased Jacqueline Jimenea Chiong. Jacqueline's body was never found, like several murder victims such as Helle Crafts. I watched both films and both left a bad taste in my mouth. I watched them anyway to give a critical review and nothing more. Other than that, I don't think any sensible history teacher would let their students watch those films. However, if I were a history teacher, I would teach students to be critical against such films and maybe let them watch those films, for the sake of teaching them to critique such films!
Watching The Flor Contemplacion Story all over again, was a mental torture. I wonder if there were ulterior motives in letting both her twin sons star as themselves, in the movie. Was it so the family can get sympathy or what? Amazingly, we never got a follow up movie called The Flor Contemplacion Story II: The Fate of the Family. Was it because of well, the shameful fate that the sons got themselves into? PEP.ph gives this details on the sons:
Ayon kay Russel, “Si Jonjon po, nakakulong sa Medium Security Jail. So, medyo may chance na malapit na raw na makalaya pero hind sure kung kailan.“Si Joel po, nasa Maximum Security Jail pa rin dahil medyo nagkakaproblema po yata."Translation for non-Tagalog speakers:
According to Russell, "As for Jonjon, he's locked up at the Medium Security Jail. So, there's a chance that he might be released any time soon but can't be sure of when.""As for Joel, he's in Maximum Security Jail until now because of some problems."
One of the sons, Xandrex, died while in jail, in 2012.
Singapore's example gave Filipinos a good remedy, a remedy not taken
It's something when Filipinos would prefer to complain and never take the solution. Complaining can be productive. However, it's no use complaining if one refuses the solution towards the problem. What's the use of complaining about having a cataract but refusing the cataract surgery, the only feasible solution to be able to see again? It may soon result to permanent sight loss of the eye affected by the cataract! I remember hoping not to need surgery. However, I complied with surgery knowing it was the only way for me to see better again. My cloudy lens was replaced with trifocal lens so I could see again! The problem was the cataract. The solution was to undergo surgery. I recommend that the Philippines shoudl learn from Singapore. However, some people still bring up Flor's "unjust death", call the late Lee Kuan Yew a "dictator". That's why I call them a bunch of Flor crybabies!
I read From Third World to First. However, I ordered the book from Shopee. One may never find that book on our local bookstores. My hunch is that it's probably not easy to get, so Filipinos will not learn the secrets of LKY's success. I bought the book and read it. Reading the chapters on the Philippines was where LKY's advice is often ignored. It's a pity that Filipinos tend to quote LKY on Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. but fail to quote LKY on economic advice. I'd like to share excerpts from LKY's dinner speech, something some Filipinos have treated with automatic bias (i.e. an Ad Hominem) because of Flor's supposedly unjust execution:
11. If I were a Filipino, I would count my blessings and start in a positive frame of mind. The Philippines is immensely better off compared to Afghanistan or Lebanon or Sri Lanka. All these three have been torn apart by strife and war, and the contending factions are still killing each other inflicting more damage on their countries instead of repairing the harm done.
12. Unlike these countries, the Philippines can pull itself together and get on with the job. And it has a good chance of success because it is part of a region which is set for high growth. What is needed is confidence, the confidence of investors, Filipinos and foreigners, that the government and the people are determined to get themselves out of the hole they are in.
13. The first task is to restore law and order. There must be a cleanup of racketeers in the police, whether for kidnappings or other crimes. Kidnappings of local Chinese have increased. Three victims, two university students and one businessman, have been killed. Unless these kidnappings stop, most investors will stay away. President Ramos has started to clean up the police and the military. He has sacked some senior police officers and removed others to less sensitive positions. He has asked Congress to reintroduce the death penalty for kidnapping, rape and murder. The legislature and the executive must showed the world that they are determined to reimpose discipline and control in the police and military the key bodies for order and stability.
14. Other crimes especially corruption must be suppressed and punished. It is good that there will be a bill in the House to increase the salaries of government workers by some 500 to 1,250 pesos a month from 1 January 1993. This can be a start of what should be a part of a wider strategy to cut down corruption. If government workers are adequately paid, they deserved to be punished with severe penalties when they take bribes. It is possible to weed out corruption provided the top political leaders must set the example and the pace. An efficient and strong anti-corruption unit under the President with powers to investigate any person however high up, and to carry it to a successful prosecution, will work wonders. The laws against corruption should be tightened to shift the onus of proof on to the person who possesses more assets than his income warrants. Two or three big fish brought to justice successfully, will have a salutary effect on everyone. This has been the experience of Singapore where the Prime Minister is in charge of the CPIB (Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau).
15. The second task is to free the economy from controls and monopolies. Rigoberto Tiglao wrote in the Review, “It has become obvious to economists now that the ‘nationalist industrialisation’ rhetoric has benefited only a group of inefficient oligarchs – including some heading US-owned firms – from beer brewing to soap manufacturing to appliance assembly. While the Aquino administration had backed down under pressure from lobby groups, and revised its original and more drastic Executive Order 413, the new tariff liberalisation programme will bring down the average effective protection rate for Philippine industries from 25% to 21% over a four-year period ending in July 1995. The tariff barriers had been a major element of an intricate web of regulations that have shackled Philippine entrepreneurs and only nurtured the favoured few cartels and monopolies, from banking and telecommunications to shipping – who have thrived through their privileged access to licenses, franchises and concessional loans.”
16. Tiglao was hopeful: “However, the economic performance of the Philippines’ ASEAN neighbours , which had sought foreign investments, has gradually resulted in the sea change in national attitudes …” There was “easy passage of the Foreign Investment Act of 1991, which basically lifted all restrictions, except those that are in the constitution, on foreign investments.”
17. The experience of Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia is especially relevant. From the 1950s to the 70s, their policies were like those of the Philippines. They protected their markets to establish import substituting industries. Products were poor and growth was slow because there were monopolies and no competition. By the early 80s, at first, Thailand, and next Malaysia, changed policies. They learned from the policies of the NIEs where foreign investment and export-oriented growth made for booming economies. Thailand and Malaysia started to deregulate and liberalise. They allowed 100% direct foreign investments. They cut down protection and opened up their industries and services to competition. Through the infusion of technology and high quality management from successful countries like Japan, the NIEs, America and Europe their goods and services became internationally competitive. Their economic growth bounced from 3-4% to 8-10% per annum. A few years later Indonesia also changed policies. They are now pressing ahead with deregulation and liberalisation to open up their economy and make their products internationally competitive.
18. Foreign investors would not have gone into Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia if they had not got their macro-economic policies right. They cut their budget deficits which brought inflation under control. This restored confidence in their currencies. Malaysia and Indonesia have reduced their budget deficits to 2% of GNP or less since 1987, to less than a third of previous deficit levels. Thailand has been running budget surpluses. The Philippines must press forward with fiscal reforms which President Aquino began in 1991 under IMF conditionality. The big problem is that taxes especially income taxes are not collected. Therefore investors fear that the Government cannot control future budget deficits and inflation. Further, if it cannot raise tax revenues, it will be unable to put in place the necessary infrastructure. Next, Filipino savings must and can be raised. Indonesia, with a lower per capita income level than the Philippines, had a national savings rate of 33% in the last five years. The Philippines had only 17%. Indonesia therefore achieved a much higher investment rate of 36% compared to the Philippines’ 20%.
19. The Ramos Administration has started deregulation and liberalisation. These initial moves must be followed up. It has to be systematic with a publicly announced timetable during which the protective barriers enjoyed by the industrial and the services sectors will be dismantled, and foreign competitors allowed in. Then you will find that Filipinos can perform just as well as Singaporeans or Thais or Malaysians. If the Philippines stick to old policies, because vested interests are too powerful to overturn, then Filipinos will continue to lag further and further behind her ASEAN neighbours.
20. If the Ramos Administration can make ordinary Filipinos understand that politics is not simply elections with singing, fiestas and giveaways, but that it is about their lives, jobs and wages, homes, schools, hospitals, the situation can change dramatically. When ordinary Filipinos know that the country’s stagnation and their joblessness is because of vested interests, corrupt politics and general disorder and lack of confidence, they will agitate in support of those who want to establish law and order and discipline, cut high tariffs, quotas to licensing and other restrictive monopolistic practices, in order to get investments to give them jobs. They will put pressure on Congress to clean up their act, to demolish barriers which are depriving Filipinos of the progress enjoyed by their neighbours. Even China and Vietnam now offer very liberal incentives and full foreign ownership. The Philippines has a lively and rumbustious press and television. They should undertake this vital job as their national duty.
21. One problem is the Philippines has an American-style constitution, one of the most difficult to operate in the world. There is a complete separation of powers between executive, legislature and judiciary. They wrote the constitution in 1787 and ratified it in 1789. They wanted a weak executive president. Having suffered at the hands of King George III of England, they wanted the opposite of a strong monarch. But a developing country faced with disorder and underdevelopment needs a strong honest government. A US-style constitution failed long before Marcos declared martial law. It was re-adopted in 1987 by President Aquino. The system worked in America because of a super-abundance of resources and riches in a vast under-populated continent. I do not believe that Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong or Singapore could have succeeded as they have done if they had to work under such a constitution, where gridlock on every major issue is a way of life. And you will notice that since the Vietnam War and the Great Society for some 28 years ago, the US system has not functioned even for the United States.
Why has useful advice gone to the drain like this? Again, all because of Flor? Supposedly Flor was innocent, should the Philippines still continue in generational hatred? If Flor was really innocent, should we hate all Singaporeans? Japan and the Philippines have been allies after the Second World War. The fault of the Japanese government back in the Second World War isn't the fault of the contemporary Japanese government or its citizens. If Flor was indeed innocent, that death wouldn't even be the fault of every Singaporean or the current Singaporean government. Would it be the fault of LKY or even Go Chok Tong (who's currently 83 years old) that Flor was unjustly sent to the gallows? Every country has its own faults. Singapore's justice system may be better than the Philippines but it's not perfect. So even if Flor was innocent and the Singaporean justice system made a terrible mistake, it's still a terrible mistake not to follow Singapore's economic advice.
Is refusal to open the Philippines to FDI a result of generational hatred for Singapore, because of Flor?
As I looked further, it may be safe to assume that it's a yes. It's a headache how Migrante International promotes the idea of national industrialization, or saying that opening up the economy to FDI, will not help the Philippines. Hypocritically, Joanna Concepcion (above) lives in America, the country that her kind like to attack as "imperialists". What are they doing in the territory of "imperialists"? Trying to invade it? Last year, I wrote an article on how Migrante International views FDI. I even have this pessimism going on like, "If I show them what LKY said, they're just going to play the Flor Contemplacion card all over again." I'm not certain how old Joanna here is. If she's in her late 20s now, she may be born in the 1990s and may even be a lot younger when Flor was hanged. I turned 10 a month before Flor was hanged. I would be able to remember the incident. Back then, the execution was romanticized and many people believed in the story.
Is it possible that Migrante opposes FDI because of well, again, Flor's death in Singapore? My hunch is probably a yes. I read some comments on Facebook that called LKY a tyrant. My usual comment is, "Still crying over Flor Contemplacion?" or "Look! Another Flor crybaby!" Migrante's opposition to FDI might be rooted in a deep hatred for Singapore, because "justice was never given to Flor". However, given Singapore's justice system being better than hours, the chances of Flor being innocent are rather slim. Singapore has had strict procedures. Later, the late Fidel V. Ramos resumed relations after further testing.
It may be just another bias. However,this hatred has done nothing to do any significant changes. These groups are still probably harboring hatred for Singapore. In short, they may be quick to renounce anything Singapore does, all because of Flor. They would still oppose anything done to emulate Singapore to a certain extent, becaue of Flor. They haven't given any real working solutions. They didn't even demonstrate it. Did it create jobs and make the Philippines a real outstanding example in passing down resenment for Singapore, in the name of Flor? My answer is not at all. It's really kept the Philippines in stagnation, one way or another. Any economic boom didn't do much either, as long as the Philippines still remains with too many unnecessary restrictions. We need economic restrictions but 60-40 policy and the like, isn't among them.