The latest SWS Survey on the senate race is out. The Inquirer says 7 fighting for last 4 slots in Magic 12. Mahar Mangahas says the main contenders (14 candidates) have remained unchanged over the past month. It’s also noteworthy that the number of undecided has shrunk, not by much, but in a statistically significant sense (from 14% to 10% give or take 3%).
Incidentally, An OFW Living in Hong Kong wonders if Alan Peter Cayetano will be disqualified, see a related Manila Times story. Latest update: the nuisance Cayetano’s been disqualified. And so has Danton Remoto, but not Victor Wood.
In response to the survey, the Palace says they’re not playing the surveys game (instead, as Alex Magno takes the lead in pointing out, salvation lies in statistics: he says 9 out of 10 Filipinos of working age are employed).
Local candidates start filing their candidacies. Patricio Diaz looks at scuttlebutt that Lakas-CMD is building an alliance with the opposition (which, incidentally, now has a blog of its own). But what of the what After All calls the “battle royale” between the Speaker and mayor Benjie Lim?
The Asian Development Bank says growth has some ways to go before making a serious dent on unemployment.
Teddy Casiño wrangles with fellow Leftists. On a lighter note, Carlos Celdran wrangles with the Left.
The Greeks like it (the film, 300). The Pope wants it back (Hell) on the agenda.
In the blogosphere, nina bumanglag and exaggerated anecdotes react to the SWS-Inquirer survey.
Also, the survey on hunger continues to trigger reactions(my thoughts exactly said the President has called three emergency cabinet meetings): Blackshama discusses food security and the reactions of organized religion to hunger; Peryodistang Pinay says it’s a matter of misplaced priorities, and says over-priced lampposts are a good example of what she means. village idiot savant noticed something I’ve noticed, too: people seem smaller these days. Uniffors describes a recent round-table discussion held by the President.
Speaking of La Presidente, Philippine Commentary, it seems to me, has made his peace (grudgingly) with the President because he believes there’s bigger fish to fry and everyone should lend a hand in giving her a backbone:
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is no Marcos because she doesn’t have the balls that Marcos had. She may have flirted with the idea of declaring martial law last year but apparently had enough sense to take the contrary advice of the former US Director of National Intelligence, John Negroponte after he dropped by all of a sudden in November 2005 (as revealed by resigned Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz). As long as the Senate and Supreme Court are there to keep her excesses in check, it’s really her capitulationist tendencies and overeagerness to give ransom to terrorists from time to time that we really have to worry about.
An attitude he seems to share with the Cardinal Archbishop of Manila. Speaking of the President, katataspulong takes a look at Diosdado Macapagal and says the President learned from her father’s bitter experience with Marcos, and has decided, no more Mr. Nice Guy. The Bunker Chronicles says GMA7 and the Inquirer have become biased in favor of the president. (In defense of the paper, the headline for the day, March 26, was the indictment of the administration by the tribunal in the Hague, and the same banner was carried on the website).
Davao Diaries on being strip-searched when visiting a jailed colleague.
The Purple Phoenix does not like Michael Defensor, to put it mildly.
The Quackroom recounts running into the nation campaign as it descends on Naga City. Davao Today points to a YouTube video showing how some soldiers are campaigning in urban areas (Philippine Star reports soldiers intend to stay where they are). Also writing from the same city, A Nagueño in the Blogosphere reacts to my column yesterday, and points to another hundred years hence and his attempt to reconceptualize the democratic process.
Bayanihan Blog Network points to You had me at hello! a blog by a call center worker. ExpectoRants takes the new Pasig River ferry.
Overseas, In Asia (the Asia Foundation blog) discusses the wait Cambodians have for justice in the case of Khmer Rouge killers.
Technorati Tags: elections, media, military, philippines, politics, president, Senate, surveys
for a strong believer in edsa1 (nope, not edsa2), i find it appalling for rosales, et. al. to think that a smudge of blood under gma (well, at least he acknowledges there is indeed bloodspill) is minutely incomparable to the horrors of bloodbath under marcos regime. for the life of me, i don’t understand this comparative measurement being peddled: had we not promised ourselves “di na ko papayag mawala ka muli, di na ko papayag na muling mabawi?”, which , for me, means we have set the standards of governance and decency after edsa1, therby serving as the yardsticks as to how we must carry on our democractic ideals? any blood spilled under a fascist-like rule, no matter how microspically speckful it is, cuts like a painful shard that breaks and rips the promises made and visions set in edsa1.
but then again, didn’t marcos start small? and is someone repeating the shameful history here?
Nakakagutom naman yang topic on hunger. If the SWS results remain unchanged in the next surveys, then Pichay should really spend more.
And yes. I don’t like Mike Defensor.
Alex Magno – “9 out of 10 Filipinos of working age are employed.” Well yes if one uses the definition used by the government :
“Employed – include all those who, during the reference period are 15 years old and over as of their last birthday and are reported either:
“At work. Those who do any work even for one hour during the reference period for pay or profit, or work without pay on the farm or business enterprise operated by a member of the same household related by
blood, marriage or adoption; or
“With a job but not at work. Those who have a job or business but are not at work because of temporary illness/injury, vacation or other reasons. Likewise, persons who expect to report for work or to start operation of a farm or business enterprise within two weeks from the date of the enumerator’s visit, are considered employed.” (National Statistics Office)
See http://www.nscb. gov.ph/glossary/ labor.asp for more.
The Comelec announced that Juju Cayetano has been disqualified. But…
“But commissioner Resurreccion Borra said that Joselito Cayetano’s name would still be included on the final list of senatorial aspirants pending the resolution of his case before the Comelec en banc or the Supreme Court.
“At the same time, Borra said that the Board of Elections Inspectors would still have to decide whether a vote for “Cayetano†would be considered a stray vote.
“The Board of Election of Inspectors will decide on stray votes. The National Board of Canvassers may not credit these votes. Once he is disqualified [Joselito], his votes will be credited to [Alan] Peter [Cayetano],†Borra said.
Disqualify Juju but leave his name on the list and let the Board of election inspectors decide and Alan Peter will not be able to take his oath as senator “pending the resolution of his case (Juju’s) before the Comelec en banc or the Supreme Court.”
So the confusion and stray votes factor, which is the reason for running Alan Peter’s namesake in the first place, is still there.
Juju is not out of the picture. But Abalos and his commissioner’s are safely out of it.
Magaling. Just the sort of ruse GMA’s election lawyer, Macalintal, would devise.
Purple Phoenix is opposition and pro-escudero. biased.
I agree with DJB’s observation on survey on hunger.
Those people who do not know how to conduct surveys would believe right away the results.
For example, SWS survey says that the interviews were made in random. Question, how random, is it? If it is random, then, it is not representative of the cross section of the population being surveyed.
The way the questionnaire is designed also affects the results of the survey. Example.
Nakaranas ka bang magutom?
Siyempre kahit sino nakaranas magutom. Kaya sumagot din si GMA na siya rin biktima ng gutom.
O ang tanong na, nagutom ka ba dahil wala kayong pagkain?
Again, ano ang dahilan, bakit walang pagkain?
Kung ang tanong ay nagutom ka ba dahil wala kayong pambiling pagkain.
Most likely these people would answer yes. Kasi ang iniisip nila ay mabibigyan sila.
Pero kung uusisain mo kung magkano ang ginagastos nila sa pagkain, sa bisyo, sa huweteng, siguro makikita na malaking budget na dapat sa pagkain ng pamilya ang ginagastos sa sigarilyo at sa alak.
OO, mga kapatid sa pananalampataya 🙂 kahit ang mga paborito kong parlorista ay magbabayad ng isangdaan para sa isang butil na shabu kaysa bumili ng bigas na makakain niya kasi doon daw siya feeling na maganda siya at maraming nag-aagawan sa kaniya.
Pag tinanong mo kung nagugutom sila, siyempre ang sagot ay oo. (rolleyes).
manuelB… the definition of “employed” seems reasonable; what is needed is more information, e.g. what percent (of the reported employed) work without pay on the farm or business enterprise operated by a member of the same household related by blood, marriage or adoption.
Reporting on underemployment is also important, e.g. what percent (of the reported employed) have worked for less than 120 hours in the past 3 months (or 10 hours a week) and are not high-school or college-students.
Back in my College days (around 1985 timeframe), i remember Bernardo Villegas giving a talk and saying that our problem is not unemployment because the statisticians count someone as employed if he/she has worked one day in six months. Our real problem, he said was underemployment which (at that time) was experienced by 1 in 3 Filipinos. With the revised definition above, i suppose this is more true today.
And then, there is the issue of wages. The mandatory P125 across-the-board wage increase for minimum wage workers should be enacted as soon as possible!!!
[What is interesting is that a number of anti-GMA people have joined GMA’s position against this P125-wage increase.]
In addition to reporting employment figures, I would prefer to track the level of “decent work” because this is work with living wages, security and voice (representation). The Philippines is among 8 countries that is piloting the decent work concept of the ILO through the Philippine Labor Index or PLI. Expect statistics to come out soon. See DOLE’s announcement at http://www.dole.gov.ph/news/details.asp?id=N000002038.
I must differ vigorously with Alex Magno’s claim that all growth trickles down. Depending on how the elite wields power, growth can actually be sucked upwards in many cases. Trickle-down economic theory has been debunked and is no longer credible. Government must ensure that social justice measures are implemented by the right institutions. This is, after all, mandated by the Constitution.
Oon nga naman Cat bakit nga ba ang sitwasyon natin ay shabu o pagkain, o kaya alak o pagkain. Bakit hindi natin magawang pwedeng kumain pati ang lasenggo o ang addict. Tulad sa amerika. Doon hindi either/or ang choices. Doon kayang piliin ng tao kung saan itatapon ang pera nila. Hindi sila nakatali sa basic necessities. Ang amerika ay consumers paradise kc ang tao ay may pera pang consume. Eh dito sa bayan natin ang pamilyang arroyo lang ang tila tumataba. Tignan mo kahit na si Iggy na parang patpat noon ay mataba na din ngayon/
Instead of preaching puritanical values why don’t we provide more opposrtunities fpr eo[le to find a decent job? Tan preaching na yan ay contra-kapitalismo.
The under-employed, or people not earning above the poverty line, taking into consideration all other incidentals and necessities in daily living, for the purpose of statistic and classifications for social assitance could also be categorized as the “working poor”.
This is where the Governments will direct their attentions and justify the spending of taxdollars not only in food subsidies, but skill upgradings, subsidized low cost housing and since most of these working poor have some social issues(drug habits, alcoholism), that too should be adrressed. Both our Federal and Provincial governments budgets announced last week addressed these issues by putting more funding on Child Tax Credits and less taxes for the ‘working poor’..
Here’s an interesting stat cited by Raul Valino of Business Mirror
“According to the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB), a family of five should have a combined monthly income of at least P6,195 to exist.”
This is something for my wife, not my employer, to read.
Kasi MB, ang addict at lasingero pag nakahawak ng pera, uunahin ang kanilang bisyo bago pagkain.
Nagkakamali kung akala mo dito sa America, pag may pera ka pwede mong bilhin at laklakin ang alak kung gusto mo kahit saan.
Isa may mga liquor store talaga dito. At kahit na sa groceries, hihingan ka ng ID na nasa edad ka na bago ka nila bentahan ng alak at sigarilyo.
Mas paraiso diyan sa Pinas kasi kahit saang kanto ng sari-sari store kahit ang bata pagbibilhan ng lapad o marka demonyo.
Dito kahit celebrity ka, nasa edad ka, marami kang pera, kulong ka pag nahuli kang nagmmaneho na DUI.
Ang mga club dito at restaurant ay masasara pag nahuli silang nagbenta ng alak sa mga below 21.
Dito, ang mga blog na nagpropromote ng shabu ay kinokondena. Diyan sa Pinas, isang popular ng blog ng bading ang nagpapakitang nagshashabu sa kanyang blog ay hindi naman lang makondena ng maraming blogger.
Dito pag nahuli ang anak mo na naglalakad sa daan ng walang kasama at may hawak na sigarilyo dahil pinabili ng tatay, pati tatay kulong. Ang bata kuha ng Social Worker.
Anong pinagsasabi mong paraiso?
CaT: she is pro escudero. she is pro opposition. but this is an election, which is about taking sides. even refusing to take a side is in itself, taking a side. no one, even those who decide not to vote, is unbiased in an election because we vote our biases, di ba?
Pag tulong ng tulong na hindi pinapalitan ang values ay para ring naglagay ka ng tubig sa butas na basket.
The US does not preach these values. They compel them to be adopted by the parents by means of laws.
Nakabuntis ka, nagkaanak ka, required kang magbigay ng suporta para ang bata hindi magutom. Akala mo ligtas ka. Pati suweldo magagarnish ng gobyerno, kahit saan ka pumunta dahil ang employer ay parusa rin ang aabutin pag hindi nila dinideduct sa suweldo ng tatay ang support at binigay sa Family and Child Court para ibigay sa bata.
Tatay ka o nanay, inabandona mo ang iyong mga anak, lagot ka pag nahuli ka, pababayarin ka mula nang iniwanan mo ang pamilya mo.
Hindi tinuturuan ng gobyernong maging responsible parents kung hindi sinasabihang parusa ka pag hindi ka naging responsable.
Pag nalamang may anak ka at nasa bahay lang at hindi nag-aaral, maaring dalawin ka ng social worker.
Cat,
I blame the lack of opportunity in our society for hunger.
Kung ang taong bayan may chance umasenso pero tinatapon nila ang opportunidad kc lasing o sabog sila tama ang sinasabi mo. Pero hindi ganoon dito. Kaya nga naglalayasan ang mga mahihirap pala humanap ng opportunidad sa ibang bansa.
Yun pagtawag ko sa America na paraiso ay dahil nga doon may chance ang tao umasenso. Nasa sa kanilang kamay na kung ano ang gagawin nila sa chance na iyon. Walang pwede magsabi na meron tayong opportunity dito tulad ng sa America.
Papaano nagawa ng america na magkaroon ng opportunidad ang mga mamamayan nila? Yan ang dapat nating pagaralan.
First, the give them the opportunity to escape poverty. Then, if they waste that opportunity, you can scold them.
Mb,
Eh alam mo ba naman bakit ang mga tao dito na nasa poverty level ay hindi nagugutom?
Kasi subsidized ng gobyerno. Bakit nasasubsidize ng gobyerno, dahil sa mga taxes na binabayad ng mga taong nagtatrabaho. Ang tawag doon ay FOOD Stamps.
Kayo nga diyan, pagnagtaas ng taxes, reklamo na. Dito bayad ka ng taxes kung aaw mong habulin ng gobyerno.
Nakita mo ba ang mapa ng Pilipinas at ng US? Pagtabihin mo sila.
Dito marami ring naglilipatan sa iba’t ibang States kapag walang oportunidad sa lugar nila. Hindi nga lang masasabing immigration yon, kungdi migration lang.
Cat,
Ano ang masasabi mo tungkol sa opportunity dyan sa america kumpara dito sa Pilipinas?
I repeat “I blame the lack of opportunity in our society for hunger.”
Ikaw ano sa palagay mo?
Mb,
Para mong kinumpara ang palasyo sa bahay kubo kung saan mas malawak ang lugar na maaring kilusan ng isang naghahanap ng espasyo.
Kaya malaki ang opportunities dito ng mga Pinoy kasi mas marami tayong mga tapos sa College.
Kagaya ngayon, naghahanap na naman sila ng BS Agriculture grads dahil dito walang Puti ang nakakapagkolehiyo halos dahil sa mahal ng tuition fees.Kahit may oportunidad, wala namang silang abilities o qualifications.
Lalo ngayong inoofshore ang mga trabaho, nagrereklamo na rin ang mga Puti na sila ay nawawalan ng trabaho.
Hindi mo siguro naiintindihan na kaya walang halos gutom dito dahil pinakakain ng gobyerno. Diyan laking isyu ng doleouts ang isasampal sa gobyerno pag ginawa yan. Pahirapan pa ang pag-release ng pera.Sus.
Dito kung gutom ka, pwede kang pumila sa soup kitchen na sinasabi. Walang tanong, walang kailangang card. Pumila ka, nakabusiness suit ka o nakasuot ng damit na sira-sira, bibigyan ka ng pagkain. Bayad ng gobyerno yon.
Yon namang pamilya na maraming miyembro, binibigyan ng card para magamit pagbili ng pagkain.
Pag-ikaw ay dalagang ina, libre ang ospital pati gatas ng anak hangganglumakad.
Bakit kaya nila ito? Kasi MB ang bayad namin dito sa IT ay halos 40 per cent ng aming kinikita lalo kapag wala kang anak, dependent at kumikita ka ng mahigit 4 na libo isang buwan.
Monsignor Buencamino,
The opportunity of which you speak is the opportunity to create a just and productive society.
So which comes first? The chicken of prosperity or the egg of opportunity?
Shouldn’t the people develop a work ethic first before they can expect to enjoy the fruits of their labor? which I agree with you, those fruits ought to include the rights to the occasional bit of euphoria, but only AFTER they’ve fed the chilluns with the apples and oranges of that labor.
Do we have things just a bit uhmm, bass ackwards, your Grace?
MB,
I think the philosophical differences between liberals and conservatives (whether paleolithic or innovative) lies in this attitude towards opportunity and results, towards values and rewards, and how indeed they are to be encouraged and achieved.
To me the society is built one person, one family at a time, on a foundation of personal responsibility, hard work, and the great, good values that every society has discovered since the time of the Cro Magnon and Neanderthal. Those were not socialist paradises, when life short and brutal.
Yet the ascent of man began in that ancient sludge, by slugging it out with our own animal natures.
Before Athens, there was Sparta!
An aristocrat preaching the work ethic, hmmmm…
Case in point of poverty as a choice: my part-time laundrywoman. She has an unemployed husband and 7 kids to feed. She plants vegetables around her neighborhood to sell to the subdivisions around our area. She also does odd jobs for several households in our place. I contract her services about twice a week and she’ll come when she wants to, unmindful of the fact that her employers have lives they have to live. Fine with me, I figure she needs all the help she can get.
Her 2 teen-aged daughters are now out-of-school – a couple of years shy of completing high school. They’re working as part-time maids around the neighborhood…not even picking up a skill as a manicurist or hairstylist (the barangay gives FREE lessons to anyone who cares to take it). Her other kids are in and out of school, depending on their whim. They like to earn a little money peddling junk sometimes – to buy candy and not to help their mom. This is all fine with their mother.
The other week she spoke to me about loaning her money to start a carinderia and I seriously considered this but held off the decision as I usually do when loaning money. The next day she invites me to her youngest kid’s baptism to be held in a couple of days. The day after the baptism, she comes to me asking for an advance of P100.00 to feed her family. This happens after telling me she spent P10,000.00 for the baptism.
Where do you see her life going? How about her kids? It’s not enough to teach a person how to fish, the more important lesson is how to use the money we earn wisely.
So hunger is both an economic and moral problem. Come to think of it, it all boils down to morals: the people and their leaders.
Philosopher Jacob Needleman, who studied Jefferson and the founding fathers of the American creed, said that when Jefferson wrote “the pursuit of happiness,” in the declaration of independence, Jefferson, having been steeped in Classical and Enlightenment thought, believed there can be no happiness without virtue. Therefore, ‘the pursuit of happiness’ is really, the pursuit of virtue. To Jefferson at least, buying shabu and gin does not come under ‘the pursuit of happiness’.
Thanks mlq3! You’re correct ‘even refusing to take sides’ shows your personal bias. I was raised by my parents to make opinions and decisions. Even if my father is aligned with the administration, he does not mind my purple phoenix blog. He even likes it.
Anecdotal evidence is fine, but irresponsible work ethic, drug addiction and other vices is present across all classes. Human frailty cannot be used to indict the poor as a whole and bringing this matter up is just a distraction to the issue of hunger among the poor. The underlying assumption of arguments involving ‘work ethic’ is that the Philippines is to some degree a meritocracy, which it is not. This is a place where the rich get richer and the poor, unless they get out of the country, will likely stay poor.
Poverty is a function of total output of an economy relative to its population. GDP per capita ika nga. It is not the Filipino poor who are managing the economy. The elites or the aristocrats do. So, whose work ethic is involved here?
Kung aasa of Pinas sa work ethic ng mga aristocrat patay na ang bayan. Sa likod ng mga mahihirap nakasampa ang kabuhayan ng lahat … I mean LAHAT. Relatively speaking, there’s no other people in the world who carries that monumental load. Imagine the official figure … $12 billion …side from the substantial amt sent via informal channels … being remitted annually by those deprived of opportunity to prove their work ethic at home. Yun mga mahihirap na hindi mabigyan ng pagkakataon dahil sa kabubuhan (incompetence) ng mga aristocrat. Ala e mahiya naman kayo.
It’s pretty clear as reflected in the latest SWS survey that the Filipino voters are growing more politically mature, educated and informed.
Look at the low survey rankings of the “celebrity†candidates: Cesar Montano and Richard Gomez.
And look, too, at the rankings of the more TV- exposed government “celebritiesâ€Â: Defensor, Pichay, Zubiri. They’re certainly not doing as well as they thought they would. And these three have had the most TV ads. These three were also long exposed to the public in the past few years as government officials getting free airtime on their various interviews.
Has the tide finally turned? Do we have an awakening of the Filipino voter?
But what good is it if their votes will not be counted anyway? And here is where the Filipino voter should step up to the next higher level of awareness. The step up to Vigilance in the Vote-counting. To be physically there and guard and watch the counting at all levels. And be prepared to take immediate action against any electoral anomaly. And there will certainly be very desperate attempts to thwart the people’s will… more so now than in 2004.
Phil, sumama ka dito … sa HALAL check here http://halal.interdoc.org/halal/
Watchful Eye, i concur with your observation that the load of sustaining the economy is on the backs of the poor. That has been the case for at least more than twenty years now. During the height of the 1983 to 1985 economic crisis, when capital was flying out of the country, it was the informal economy that helped us pull through. Since then, most of the growth has been consumption led. That is in contrast to our neighbors where government and business have put in place and successfully implemented a program for industrialization.
Watchful Eye, you’ll be surprised to learn there are a lot of Filipino professionals, not just the poor, who have CHOSEN to work abroad…not only for economic opportunities. Martin Bautista as an example.
The OFW phenomena is nothing new. Since before there was a Republic of the Philippine – Filipinos were already making inroads in different parts of the world. All I’m saying is, the opportunity IS there, our government DOES a good job of processing workers to different countries and our people are benefiting.
I’m not denying the ills in society this phenomena has caused. But for a lot of Filipino professionals who have the opportunity to bring their families with them, it’s not a huge sacrifice at all. If you will remember in the 70’s, the typical OFW was a semi-skilled worker in the Middle East. That face has changed.
What we, who are back here, should be doing is making the most use of the money they send back….do our bit to improve our country so those who have left will perhaps want to invest here and eventually come back.
CHOICE. Yun ang parang hindi natin gustong aminin na may choice tayo. Ang nangyayari sa atin lahat ay dahil sa CHOICES na ginawa natin sa dumaang mga taon.
Puro sisihan…sisi sa gobyerno, sisi sa oposisyon (guilty!), sisi kay Lapu-Lapu, MacArthur, Quezon, Magellan….
Government tells us that a little over half of the labor force actually earns a wage or salary. The other half are self-employed or unpaid family workers. We massacre the defenition of employed in this country to be able to ape the economic accounting construct of advanced mechanized integrated industrial economies.We are told to use to this type of measurements which really is a joke.
Labor force – population 15 years old and over, whether employed or unemployed, who contribute to the production of goods and services in the country. 36M +
Employed – persons in the labor force who are reported at work or with a job or business although not at work during the reference week.
*Unemployed – persons in the labor force who did not work or had no job/business during the reference week and were reported looking and available for work.
Underemployed- employed persons who desire to have additional hours of work in their present job or in a additional job, or to have a new job with longer working hours.
Visibly Underemployed – employed persons who work for less than 40 hours during the reference week and still want additional hours of work.
Invisibly Underemployed – employed persons who work for 40 hours or more during the reference week and still want additional hours of work.
*Persons not looking or who have given up looking for work are not considered unemployed. They are considered voluntarily unemployed. They are not counted
at all.
In the more developed industrial economies the description for those who are employed are as follows:
Non-farm payroll workers (full time, part time and temporary) Farm payrolls and government payroll’s (is distinguished from the private sector.)
Self -employed and family owned enterprises are not considered in the same classification as employed.
In the Philippines the term employed is stretched to include this. Tenant farmers(sharecropers),coastal fisherman are all considered employed under this defintion.
Having said that one should recall the words of Adam Smith who reminds us that:
“Servants, labourers and workmen of different kinds, make up the far greater part of every great political society. But what improves the circumstances of the greater part can never be regarded as an inconveniency to the whole. No society can surely be flourishing and happy, of which the far greater part of the members are poor and miserable. It is but equity, besides, that they who feed and clothe and lodge the whole body of the people, should have such a share of the produce of their own labor as to be themselves tolerably well fed, clothed and lodged.â€Â
Henry Sy, the Tantocos and the Ayalas have nothing to do with farming nor sewing nor building. The indolent Filipino that I read about in some comments feed, cloth shelter and wipe’s the ass for some of you.
Industrial economies in food production alone through continuing advances in technology have multiplied the productive capacites of land, labor. In the past a 4-6-fold return on seed planted for wheat was considered normal, then a 10-fold return was considered exceptional Today it is 40-45 fold and higher. That is what productivity through a carbon based industrialization has wrought. (man made fertilizers are carbon based)The West subsidizes this production to insure stable prices and price stability. After all food is the currency of currencies. This revoltuion in agriculture in conjunction with the industrial revolution (you remember this) moved most people into cities.
The issue of hunger is prevalent simply because the economic model we perisst in using is still the same installed by the colonizers.
it is interersting that a lot of sup[posedly knowledgeable people support the views of Washington Sycip about the drawbacks of democracy pointing to the authoritrian forms of our neighbors. he forgets to point out this one important fact. the chosticks economies he refers to have a long history of formal national fedual structures in place. But they all followed a national mercantilist dirigist economic paradigm along the same lines as proposed by the then father of U.S. industrial mercantilism Alexander Hamilton.
If we had followed this paradigm at the end of the senond world war then we would have destroyed the landlordism in the country by force and installed a genuine agrarian reform program that menas that there would have been no parity rights for the Americans and all multinational corporations would have been nationalized and there would have been no Washington Sycip. That is what Japan, South Korea, PRC and Taiwan did. It is precisely Washington Sycip who benefitted from the policy framework of the Washington Consensus. His major clients are the multinationals who would have been tossed out until they are invited in like the PRC under the framework of a national dirigist economic paradigm. He has become rich though the policy of debasing the national currency.
Mita, aminin mo, sa Pinas professional ka nga pero poor ka parin dahil kaunti ang opportunity. In a society like the Philippines who do you think create those opportunities. For example, our main exports electronics ay import-intensive. Therefore, there’s opportunity there for our wealth holders to take risk in. Pero, masama nga ang work ethic at aversion to risk. It’s safer for them to just loan their money to the gov’t . . .at guaranteed pmts (and tawag niyan ay rent-seeking). Sino sa palagay mo ang kumikita sa mga remittance fees? Sila din. Easy money for them while you work your butt in the movies of our mind, good ‘ol USA. If our elites are as competent and efficient as the Americans or our neighbors in the regions sa Pinas ka nagpapasarap ng buhay.
Kasama mo nga ang pamilya mo. Marami ka naman iniwanan. In the end may nawala saiyo.
hrvs, great discourse, as usual. Nahihilo lang ako minsan. hehe
Kasalanan kaya ito ng mga taong katulad ni Alex Magno? Eto ang sabi nya:
1) As a social scientist, my training has been to “extract truth from the facts.” It involves the discipline of trying to uncover processes underlying events, establishing trends from comparative information gathered over time or across similar communities.
2) The long-term policy solution to the incidence of hunger is to bring down the food price regime through agricultural trade liberalization.
3) All growth trickles down, in varying degrees of course.
Mukhang ang abot ng ulo ni Magno ay Luzon, Visayas at Mindanao and his comparative figures begin and end within those parochial confines. Sangayon ako that great economic nations have started off with “industrial policies†not with “trade liberalization.†I will go as far as saying that the economic strategy pursued by America at Hamilton’s time is comparable to China’s strategy today. But this guy Magno loves this shitty Consensus at the expense of the poor Filipinos unfortunately.
hvrds, i second watchful eye. i have taken the liberty to cut and paste your comment above to my own blog.
Dear Moral Forces,
Is our country a land of opportunity?
“Mita, aminin mo, sa Pinas professional ka nga pero poor ka parin dahil kaunti ang opportunity.” =
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Since when did the term “professional” automatically mean you’re rich?
And dami dami ring professional dito sa America na poor din ah! Marami sa kanila eh yung baon sa utang?
Para sa akin, its really all about mindset or values…If you feel miserable in the Philippines, going to America will not solve your misery. If you feel miserable with $10 dollar (or P10). Having $100 ( P100) will not change your feeling miserable. If you cannot manage how to spend you pesos dont expect that you can manage well with your dollars…
“lex Magno takes the lead in pointing out, salvation lies in statistics: he says 9 out of 10 Filipinos of working age are employed” MLQ3
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Ewan ko lang ha pero heto ang cut and paste version from Alex column ay heto.
“Again, the ad balances that claim with the employment figure: 9 out of 10 Filipinos of working age are employed. Wages might leave much to be desired. Opportunities might still be limited. But the picture is improving rather than worsening.”
To me, he was referring to the ad and was not claiming anything about “salvation”.
If you care to read the entire column, Alex was actually raising up a good point and explaining about the kind of journalism that is prevailing the nation and what he think should prevail….
Its really funny how some of us are over reacting or over comprehending. Over talaga!!!!!!!!
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I dont get this
Just finished watching the movie ‘300’ downloaded in two parts from files haring in the internet (yes, it’s already available for download, free and in this part it’s not illegal for personal use, the court said), and it is awesome, especially the soundtrack, and the gratuitous violence?, without it the movie will not last for more than an hour. If I were a Persian (Iranian) I would not like how my folks were portrayed in the movie, and of course nobody would let the movie makes us believe that Democracy was in existence 2500 years ago as it is not even in existence today as King Leonidas wants us to believe.
And 2500 years hence, history maybe about to repeat itself as the Spartans are ready in Formation in the Gulf in the Guise of the U.S. Naval forces and the British Navy, ready to attack the Persian, but this time it will not be just the 300 with their shields and spears and swords and their muscles, but an overwhelming forces, ready to back the Warnings of PM Tony Blair to the Iranian Authorities to release unconditionally the British Sailors ‘captured’ by the Revolutionary Guards in the disputed waterways.
Braze yourself, the battle of Thermopylae may be again retold not by one surviving Spartan in Julius, but by live broadcast by CNN and Christian Ammanpour on the anchor…
rego, kaya nga: sabi ni magno, ayon sa mga statistics, ok naman pala; kung papansinin lang ang mga statistics, ang dapat maging pananaw natin ay, ok naman dahil ok naman ang mga statistics. kung tatanggapin lamang natin na ang mga numero ng pamahalaan, at huwag na nating kiwestuyinun ang mga numero, eh de ok lang talaga ang lahat. so, salvation lies in statistics. wala nang pag aawayan.
oh OK, manolo, I got your point…:)
From the Ca t, this gem of wisdom:
“For example, SWS survey says that the interviews were made in random. Question, how random, is it? If it is random, then, it is not representative of the cross section of the population being surveyed.”
Huh? Kaya nga random ang sample, para maging representative. Random sampling is the most reliable way of getting an unbiased segment of a population. How else should sampling be conducted? And what is your proposed measure of randomness?
“Those people who do not know how to conduct surveys would believe right away the results.”
It seems to me that you’re the one who doesn’t understand surveys and statistics.
Of course survey questions cannot perfectly capture the ‘truth’ because they are constrained by the limitations of language, which by itself can never be neutral. There’s always context, there are various meanings.
In analyzing a survey, you have to look at
1) The methodology, where sampling is key, and which you do not understand yourself.
2) Whether the questions measure a certain variable to the *best possible degree*. Where the questions are qualitative rather than quantitative, there is always room for interpretation, though this does NOT mean that the answers of respondents a) are totally useless to illuminate a certain condition or b) that they can be used to discern other variables that the questions are not designed to measure.
Ex: Kung ang tanong ay nakaranas na ba ng gutom ang respondents at ang sagot ay oo sa karamihan, hindi natin puedeng sabihin ayon sa survey na karamihan ng Pilipino ay tamad. Ibang survey yon.
3) Whether there are correlations between variables. Kung ang sumagot na gutom sila ay nagkataong dukha rin, siguro naman ang gutom nila ay dahil sa kahirapan at di dahil sa nagda-diet lang sila.
4) The reputation of the surveying firm. Kung si GMA ang magpa-survey at ang resulta ay walang nagugutom sa Pilipinas, medyo magduda na tayo.
watchful eye, wala akong aaminin kasi I’m one who would fall into the category NOTA. nasa pilipinas ako btw – in Bulacan – where the first Philippine Republic was declared.
I have to disagree with you – WE create our own opportunities. meron maswerte na tinatawag pero ang totoo nun, that person had been working for years to get to where he was – AND more importantly, DID NOT put himself in a box na ang label “KAWAWA, MAHIRAP atbp”.
ang dapat tanungin natin sa sarili natin is this: why have we allowed the f*&^%$g elite run OUR country? but again, sino ang mga elite ng bayan ngayon and ask yourself, where were they 60 years ago…
the only way to beat them is to join them and level the field…or turn red – sa galit o sa pulitika…
oh.. another question to ask: who were the elite (or so they thought) 60 years ago and where are they now?
Here’s the Forbes magazine list of the top ten today with their net worth:
1. Henry Sy – $4.0 billion
2. Lucio Tan – $2.3 billion
3. Jaime Zobel de Ayala – $2.0 billion
4. Eduardo Cojuangco – $840 million
5. George Ty – $830 million
6. John Gokongwei – $700 million
7. Tony Tan Caktiong – $575 million
8. Andrew Tan – $480 million
9. Emilio Yap – $350 million
10. Oscar Lo-pez – $315 million
Maliban kay Zobel de Ayala, do you notice something about their last names?
Some of them claim to be self-made. Others are old money and are believed to have profited from the Marcos regime. The first six families alone may have control of around 45-50% of listed corporate assets. With 60 or so other families, they dominate the economy (as well as the political class).
mita, btw, I like your website. kunting kayud, kunting tiyaga, I hope to see you beating the odds and joining the Forbes’ list someday. Huwag mo lang kaming kalimutan dito na taga mlq3 site. Someday, pag elite ka na rin, and when Manolo changes his mind and runs for the highest office of the land, expect us to knock at your door so together we could figure out a way to level the playing field.
watchful eye seems to suggest that there exists a problem with Filipinos-with-Chinese blood as evidenced by 9 of the names on the Forbes top-10 net-worthy of Bayang Magiliw.
Watchful eye, do you recommend that Malay-blooded Pinoys should learn from the business practices of, or do you recommend a different set of actions against the Chinese and Chinoys?
Unlike in Malaysia, where the Chinese community constitutes a substantial minority (around 30%), the ethnic-Chinese population here is far too small to be the made the target of affirmative action programs as implemented by UMNO. Besides, our geographic proximity to China and hundreds of years of trade ties means that a lot of ethnic-Filipinos actually have mixed blood so the distinction between Malay/Chinese does not seem to apply as strongly to us. (Physically, Filipinos resemble Thais more than they resemble Malaysians or Indonesians.) The Filipino super-rich is a small community so a more targeted approach may be desirable.
As i mentioned in Ellen’s blog previously, i’m hoping that the next leader of the country (whether he/she be democratically elected as i would prefer, or a dictator), would summon the 300 wealthiest families of the Philippines to Malacanang and ask each of them for a workable plan to redistribute a portion of their wealth to the poor (e.g. as seed money for livelihood programs). This plan, once agreed upon, should be closely monitored by the grassroots organizations for faithfulness of implementation and quality of execution. Within the ranks elite, they should also agree to police their ranks of would be cronies.
Where we should have a broad based policy against a class of people would be the big landowners (rural or urban) as it has been shown that among the forms of inequality, as alluded to by Watchful Eye above, it is inequality in land ownership that is the most detrimental to economic growth. That’s why our neighbors who tackled this matter early on had more success in economic development. Besides, it is better for capital should to be diverted to industry rather than real estate.
Sorry, the last sentence should read…Besides, it is better for capital to be diverted to industry rather than real estate.