MANILA -- The proposal to amend the economic provisions of the Constitution to lessen restrictions for foreign investments shows that lawmakers still insist on an economic strategy that has clearly failed to develop the economy.
The newest push for Charter change (Cha-cha) supposedly seeks to revise the 1987 Constitution to give way for economic liberalization and attract more foreign investments. However according to research group IBON, foreign direct investment (FDI) has already been pouring into the Philippines over the last decades but with little to show in terms of overall economic development. This is because the fixation on attracting foreign investment has led to foregoing any long-term gains for the domestic economy.
The Ramos, Estrada and Arroyo administrations have given liberal privileges and generous incentives to FDI over the last two decades. The net result is that foreign investors have been able to make their profits but the supposed gains for economy and the people in terms of jobs, poverty reduction, industrialization and an advanced economy have not materialized.
In fact, increasing FDI has actually been accompanied by increasing unemployment, increasing labor export, falling real wages, shrinking domestic manufacturing and more volatile growth. The share of manufacturing in the economy has been steadily falling and, at 22.2% of gross domestic product (GDP) and 8.3% of employment in 2010, is already as small as in the 1950s or over half a century ago. There have also not been any real increases in domestic capital formation or in government revenues which have increasingly relied on regressive taxes on personal consumption.
The cumulative stock of FDI has increased twenty-seven-fold from US$914 million in 1980 to US$24.9 billion in 2010, increasing as a percentage of GDP from 2.8% to 13.2% over that same period. Annual inward FDI flows, in turn, increased from US$114 million in 1980 to US$1.71 billion in 2010. As a percentage of gross fixed capital formation, these flows rose from 1.3% in 1980 to a peak of 17.7% in 2006 before dropping to 8.3% in 2009 and further to 5.8% in 2010.
Foreign investments should supposedly help in building a strong productive economic base. However there is nothing to indicate that FDI has contributed to creating a strong domestic economy able to create jobs on a sustainable basis.
Changing the charter out of a fixation to attract foreign investment fails to learn lessons from the past and is going to be a step backward for Philippine development, IBON said.
Health
Cha-cha ‘Fixation’: Lawmakers Fail To Learn From Economy’s Experience
- 15 October 2011
- Kobakila News Service
- Hits: 845
Lawmaker to DOJ: Do Not Sell Email Service To Private Firms
- 21 April 2012
- INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
- Hits: 615
MANILA – A lawmaker has warned the Department of Justice (DOJ) against compromising the safety and integrity of government data. This after reports came out that the DOJ has opened its email services for public bidding. The approved budget for the project is P2,709,504 ($63,011).
Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño said the DOJ should “tread carefully” in bidding out its e-mail and related cloud services to foreign corporations, saying that the move might “imperil the safety and integrity of government data, especially DOJ data in terms of storage, access and even sovereignty.”
According to reports, the DOJ project requires 1,200 seats for cloud services that include email, instant messaging, document repository and peer to peer audio/video conferencing for one year to be given to about 10,000 users across the DOJ portfolio.
Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño said the DOJ should “tread carefully” in bidding out its e-mail and related cloud services to foreign corporations, saying that the move might “imperil the safety and integrity of government data, especially DOJ data in terms of storage, access and even sovereignty.”
According to reports, the DOJ project requires 1,200 seats for cloud services that include email, instant messaging, document repository and peer to peer audio/video conferencing for one year to be given to about 10,000 users across the DOJ portfolio.
APEC Sets Sights On 2012 Priorities
- 01 April 2012
- Kobakila News Service
- Hits: 464
SINGAPORE – APEC is taking further steps to enhance supply chain performance, improve collaboration on innovation and extend opportunities for more robust economic growth and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific.
That is the aim of a diverse cluster of high-level APEC trade and investment roundtables and workshops taking place this week in Singapore.
Attention will center on delivering practical strategies and solutions necessary to achieve trade and investment liberalization, regional economic integration, innovative growth and supply chain connectivity, which are among APEC’s top 2012 agenda items.
That is the aim of a diverse cluster of high-level APEC trade and investment roundtables and workshops taking place this week in Singapore.
Attention will center on delivering practical strategies and solutions necessary to achieve trade and investment liberalization, regional economic integration, innovative growth and supply chain connectivity, which are among APEC’s top 2012 agenda items.
US Credit Troubles: Problems For The Philippine Economy
- 26 November 2011
- Sonny Africa
- Hits: 2661
The recent United States (US) credit rating downgrade is just the latest sign that the global crisis which erupted in 2008 has not been resolved and will continue for years to come. The Philippine government and its economic managers are unfortunately oblivious to this reality in their medium-term planning and budgeting for 2012 which undermines the country’s prospects for development.
OFW remittances declining
- 31 August 2011
- Kobakila News Service
- Hits: 945
MANILA—As national statisticians and development planners reported the current decline of the country’s gross domestic product for the second quarter this year, the number of overseas Filipinos’ remittances showed that the money sent back home is declining.
According to the inflow of compensation income, an item under Net Primary Income (NPI), that is part of the system of national accounts yielded year-on-year negative growth rates in compensation income for the first two quarters of the year.
Goverment Should Regulate Oil Industry Says IBON
- 18 March 2012
- Kobakila News Service
- Hits: 489
As the world marks International Consumer Rights Day, research group IBON said that the consuming public, which bears the brunt of unabated oil price hikes, has the right to know how the oil companies determine oil prices.
The group urged government to regulate the oil industry to ensure transparency in pricing. It also challenged oil firms to give additional information about their operations to show that the price of local oil is not beyond what is justified. “Only oil firms have full details of their operations. But under the oil deregulation law, oil companies are protected from disclosing these key information to the public, thus giving the oil firms more room to manipulate their prices” said IBON research head Sonny Africa, speaking before oil industry stakeholders and lawmakers on Wednesday in a forum at the House of Representatives.
The group urged government to regulate the oil industry to ensure transparency in pricing. It also challenged oil firms to give additional information about their operations to show that the price of local oil is not beyond what is justified. “Only oil firms have full details of their operations. But under the oil deregulation law, oil companies are protected from disclosing these key information to the public, thus giving the oil firms more room to manipulate their prices” said IBON research head Sonny Africa, speaking before oil industry stakeholders and lawmakers on Wednesday in a forum at the House of Representatives.
Online Business Registration Portal To Be Launched
- 11 March 2012
- Kobakila News Service
- Hits: 743
MANILA -- In an effort to streamline business permits registration this year, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said Friday in a press briefing that it will launch next week its online business registration portal called Philippine Business Registry (PBR).
The PBR would serve as a one-stop shop for transactions involving several government agencies in the process of starting a business. Government agencies interlinked under the PBR, include the DTI, Bureau of Internal Revenue, Social Security System, Home Development Mutual Fund, Philippine Health and Insurance Corp., and Securities and Exchange Commission.
The PBR would serve as a one-stop shop for transactions involving several government agencies in the process of starting a business. Government agencies interlinked under the PBR, include the DTI, Bureau of Internal Revenue, Social Security System, Home Development Mutual Fund, Philippine Health and Insurance Corp., and Securities and Exchange Commission.
Structural Reform Urged at APEC Workshop
- 15 August 2011
- Kobakila News
- Hits: 609
SINGAPORE -- Experts from APEC economies urged members to identify and implement structural reforms to boost trade and prosperity across the Asia-Pacific region.
APEC Residential Training Workshop on Structural Reform participants will work with fellow policy-makers from 19 APEC economies over three days to identify domestic reform priorities and capacity building needs.
Workshop participants will analyse questions of prioritizing and sequencing reforms, as well as examining structural adjustment, regulation and competition.
APEC Residential Training Workshop on Structural Reform participants will work with fellow policy-makers from 19 APEC economies over three days to identify domestic reform priorities and capacity building needs.
Workshop participants will analyse questions of prioritizing and sequencing reforms, as well as examining structural adjustment, regulation and competition.
The Mighty Pharmaceutical Industry
- 19 July 2009
- Benjie Oliveros
- Hits: 1115
MANILA (July 19) — Sen. Mar Roxas is raising hell about the alleged collusion between the Arroyo government and the pharmaceutical industry to delay if not derail the implementation of Republic Act 9502, or the “Universally Accessible Cheaper and Quality Medicines Act of 2008,” which was signed on June 6, 2008. Among the provisions the multinational pharmaceutical companies are reportedly blocking is the setting of the maximum retail price for 22 essential medicines. To sweeten the deal between the Arroyo government and pharmaceutical firms, Pfizer allegedly offered five million “sulit” discount cards to President Arroyo for distribution to indigent patients around the country. (Remember the distribution of PhilHealth cards in 2004?)
