Bencard, childish, it is not. Though simple, it may be. A man, and yes, he’s living, was able to make the economy take off, even after the Marcos and Cory admins left it in much worser shambles than Erap did. I leave it to you to discover who this childish and simple ME is talking abt.

“No one could have withstood the unrelenting onslaught of the forces of hate, putting every obstacle on the path of progress, as if the fury of nature and the devastation it causes were not enough.”

Nice poetry, but aside from that, does it contain anything else? Allow me to dissect it point by point.

No one could’ve withstood the unrelenting onslaught… (then why is GMA still in power?)
of the forces of hate (and why wouldn’t ppl hate her and her gang?)
putting every obstacle in the path of progress (the path GMA is treading and trying to make is not progress)
as if the fury of nature and the devastation it causes were not enough (this line, u shud speak to GMA. As she is worser than any natural calamity ever to visit us)

Let me repeat it. GMA and her gang is blunting the better effects of the benefits brought about by the GARGANTUAN remittances. As if that isn’t enough, they’re claiming all of it is bcoz of them.

You will realize this, when this PROP suddenly disappears beneath us. Imagine a Philippines where every OFW family has left, and no one is returning, and no one is sending back anything since every OFW family has migrated… There you will see all the unjust structures collapsing beneath the weight it perpetuates…
You know why? There won’t be ENOUGH money to go around.
And our PESO will be just as worthless as used toilet papers…

Ano naman klaseng reasoning yung pabayaan ng mandaya at mangurakot yan eh maganda naman economy. Parang panahon ni Marcos yan ah. In the first place, maganda ba talaga economy? Sige pagdudukutin na ang mga pesteng aktibista na yan, tutal maganda naman ang economy. Ganun ba? Marami pang job opportunity…sa Korea…and call center..Hek…hek

This is one of the most childish and simplistic statement I have read anywhere in this blog. No man, dead or alive, in the Philippines could make the economy take off like an antiquated DC3 after Erap had left it in shambles. No one could have withstood the unrelenting onslaught of the forces of hate, putting every obstacle on the path of progress, as if the fury of nature and the devastation it causes were not enough.

The country is still poor and many are still in dire poverty. It is a miracle that the country is surviving in spite of itself. When over half of the entire population is pre-occupied with nothing but the ouster of the sitting president by any means, fair or foul, or by a consuming passion to sabotage her best effort for the country, how can the economy move, let alone take off?

The ofw remittances are a big help, no doubt about that. But they are a drop in the bucket in relation to the gargantuan economic problems of the country that accumulated over the years. It takes intelligent management and exceptionally imaginative but effective economic programs just to survive and avoid becoming another Ethiopia.

We should never sweep our problems under the rug but I think, if we care for what is good for us, its about time we should focus our attention to what we, individually, could do rather than what our government should do. Self-reliance … the timeless virtue we should live by.

watchful eye said: Whose economic improvement? What’s the unequal distribution of income when GMA first assumed power, for instance? What is that distribution now?

Totally agree. Again, it’s worth repeating, from SWS data:

The percentage of families experiencing involuntary hunger at least once in the past three months stayed at the record-high 19.0%, or an estimated 3.4 million households, in the First Quarter 2007 Social Weather Survey, conducted over February 24-27.

The record-high incidence of household hunger of 19.0% was first set in November 2006. Hunger has been at double-digits since June 2004.

Let’s not lose sight of the fact that 1/5 of the population are going consistently hungry. Those are our countrymen, those are human beings, let’s not keep ignoring them. Again, economic improvement for whom?

The way you wrote things is a bit unfair (or biased), it seems that if a writer seems to favor the admin side you degrade the poor writer to the point that it would make him look stupid, isn’t there a better way for us to look on both sides or at the very least appear as someone who is fair and just? Can we give credit whenever credit is due (even if it’s for GMA which clearly you hate so much with passion I must say) we choose what we want to see and believe and clearly you made your choice

Jude, here:
http://forums.mukamo.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=23640&view=findpost&p=1202069

I posted that verbatim in the earlier thread “Cost of Political..”

Summarized, it is this: The economy is doing better INSPITE and DESPITE of GMA and whatever she “claims” she did. Secondly, if we would take ur statement as true that
“other Asian countries quickly recovered from the financial crisis of 1997. The Philippines and Indonesia lagged behind because of poor leadership and political instability. When those countries had a change of leadership, only then did they start to make some headway. The economic upswing was felt in other Asian countries during Erap’s time, but the Philippines did not catch on,”
then it would be much truer in today’s times than before. Look, the credit measures this admin touts endlessly as the cause of the stock market surging isn’t the real cause of it. We all know deep down what is. REMITTANCES. The influx of this MONEY is the single biggest factor driving economic growth. Real estate (housing, construction)dollar reserves (to blunt inflation), CONSUMPTION, all the things the GMA gov’t claims, isn’t theirs to claim. Yes, credit outlook did somehow improved, but what did that all do? lower interest rates, that is all. For what? Lesser borrowing rates or lesser loan payments for our debts?

The fact of the matter is, if a better president was in Malacanang, our economy wouldn’t just “grow,” it would take off like a rocket considering this SPRINGBOARD (remittances) we’re jumping from. GMA is the one holding the economy back, not the other way around.

If there is one thing I agree with what u said, it is this, “When those countries had a change of leadership, only then did they start to make some headway.”

There, we both have a starting point for moving on.

Whose economic improvement? What’s the unequal distribution of income when GMA first assumed power, for instance? What is that distribution now? And economic improvement compared to whose admin in the Phil or which country’s economy? To Erap’s short reign? To Malaysia’s economy? Indonesia’s or Vietnam’s?

i think namfrel excludes some returns they can’t read, which is the case with some of the returns in mindanao. blame it on expired carbon paper i guess.

vic:

nice comment. i’ve seen many filipino communities abroad that are law abiding and don’t brook corruption. unfortunately alot of these communities also have the penchant to look down on they’re “corrupt countrymen” back here.