By Mortz C. Ortigoza
Economic experts said
the Philippines lags with South East Asian neighbours Vietnam, Indonesia,
Thailand, and Singapore in terms of foreign direct investment (FDI).
To cite data from the
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), it says our
country in 2014 got U.S$ 6.2 billion foreign direct investment (FDI) only while
FDI poured generously at the tune of $ 9.2 billion in Vietnam, $ 22.6 billion
in Indonesia, $12.6 Thailand, and S67.5 billion in Singapore in the same year.
Philippines snared more foreign monies in
South East Asia
Since we talk here about
foreign monies that benefit our people, the Philippine was not a sissy, as many
economics expert painted, on snaring FDI.
We are Top 2 after
Singapore in the burgeoning South East Asian (SEA) economic alliance in getting
foreign monies in and outside the Philippines.
Our country is a
recipient of a staggering U.S $34.60 billion if we include the U.S $28.40
billion (World Bank) remittances sent by the millions of overseas foreign
workers (OFWs), the ballyhooed economic saving grace of the country, in 2014.
So if Vietnam and
Indonesia (second and third after the Philippines in the SEA region that send
workers overseas) have U.S$21.20 billon and U.S$ 31.15 billion, respectively if
we integrate the data from UNCTAD and the remittances list from the World Bank,
the Philippines becomes No. 2 after Singapore by ranking who got the most
foreign monies.
Despite being the Top 2,
probably the first time you read from a columnist, why we are still poor versus
Thailand and Singapore despite the $34.60 billion that entered the country and
the 6.7 percent Gross Domestic Product last year – dubbed as one of the fastest
economic growth engines in the world?
Pathetic Per Capita Income and 9.1 million unemployed
With a per capita income
(PCI) of U.S $2,872.5 (World Bank, 2011-2014) versus Thailand and Singapore’s
PCI of $5,977.4 and $ 56,284.6,respectively, we have 6.8 percent
unemployment rate or 4, 228,852 unemployed in a labor force of 62, 189,000
according to the Philippine Statistics Office.
But the December 8, 2015
survey of the Social Weather Station said that 9.1 million Filipinos were
unemployed.
PCI, by the way, is the
mean money income received in the past 12 months computed for every man, woman,
and child in a geographic area. It is derived by dividing the total income of
all people 15 years old and over in a geographic area by the total population
in that area.
This massive number of
jobless, aggravated this year by the dropped of the prices of oil in the Middle
East, and the runaway population explosion, where ironically the poor bear more
children than the moneyed, would aggravate the economic stocks of the poor in
the Philippines.
Aggressively Promote Population Control
To arrest the exploding
demography, so there would be less poor Filipinos who will compete with the
jobs brought by FDI, our growing manufacturing base, the jobs generated because
of the remittances of the OFWs, and the business outsourcing firms, the
government should aggressively promote population control by giving
contraceptives to the people.
But if these dole-outs
of condoms, pills, and others will smack head on with the legalities as
provided by the Reproductive Health Law, the private sectors through
foundations, can play a role on the promotion (just like Trust Condom promoted
then on TV as advertisement) or their free distribution.
Let’s emulate Thailand how to reduce our
population
Let us compare the
Philippines to Thailand that economically dusted off us significantly, say, in
terms of PCI where each of them got $5,977.4 a year while each Filipinos had
$2,872.5 PCI a year in 2011-2014 World Bank’s records.
Remember in 1975
Thailand and the Philippines had roughly the same population, a high population
growth rate, a high fertility rate, and the same number of the population
living under poverty line.
But because the Thai
government, just like the Marcos Administration in the 1970s, aggressively
promote family controls for 35 years after 1975, the following results,
according to Dr. Nibhon Debavalya, Thailand’s leading population expert,
ensued:
· Thailand was able to
radically reduce its population growth rate to 0.6 percent while the
Philippines inched down to 2.04 percent in the period 1970-2010.
· During the period
1970-2008, Thailand’s GDP per capita grew by 4.4 percent, while the
Philippines’ grew by 1.4 percent.
· By 2008, Thailand’s
total GDP was $273 billion while the Philippines’ was $167 billion. (Note: In 2014, Thailand and Philippines’ GDP were
$437, 344,000,000 and $ 278,260, 000,000 , respectively (World Bank)
· By 2010, there were 93.6
million Filipinos, or over 20 million more than the 68.1 million Thais. This
gap of 25.5 million is the demographic advantage enjoyed by Thailand – one that
has made a vast difference in the economic performance and the quality of life
of the people in the two countries.
· By 2008, owing partly to
its demographic performance, Thailand’s GDP per capita was $4,043 or more than
twice that of the Philippines, which stood at $1,847.
· By 2010, only 9.6
percent of Thais lived under the national poverty line while 26.4 percent of
Filipinos did.
How can we uplift the standard of living of the
Filipinos
If we quantify these
data between Thailand, that encourages 100 percent foreign investment, and the
Philippines, that encourages 40 percent foreign ownership as mandated by her
Constitution, then it is no longer debatable that the Thais have better
standard of living by just citing both countries’ PCI.
So how can we rev up our
lethargic share of the PCI?
My answer: Fight population
explosion, change the foreign economic equity on the corporate ownership from
40 percent to 100 percent just like what Vietnam and Singapore had done,
diversify OFWs’ deployment overseas as the dropped of the prices of oil in many
states become an economic menace, and buttress the growth of our local
industries like manufacturing and business outsourcing like call centres and
medical transcriptionists.
On how to fight
population explosion, here’s Debavalya.
“A
final decisive factor was the national government’s durable commitment to a
comprehensive program that systematically provided information and
contraceptives, especially to the poor and in rural areas”.
He said that while non
government organizations, such as Meechai’s Population and Community Development
Association, were important in educating rural Thais on the different methods
of family planning, it was the government that provided access to contraceptives in
the grassroots.
Remember, our country
despite our $34.60 billion foreign monies took in 2014 or the crap of being
Economic Top 2 on that year would be nothing if we do not arrest our runaway
population explosion – the real culprit why we have massive unemployment rate
and limping poverty as a result of the policies implemented by this misdirected
and religion-scared government.
(You
can read my selected columns at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com and articles
at Pangasinan News Aro. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com)
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