Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Filipino overseas workers, more than any one else, have the right to ask the question
why the Philippines remains to be a poor country while many of our East Asian neighbors,
who used to be less developed economically than we (such as South Korea, Taiwan,
Singapore, Malaysia, etc.) have eradicated or significantly reduced mass poverty. Why are
grinding poverty that drives millions of Filipinos to incur very high social and spiritual costs,
leaving their loved ones at home, in order to eke out a decent living for their respective
families.
I do not pretend to know all the answers. I have been asking myself the same question
over the last forty years and have come out with a few basic answers. I hope I can contribute
some light especially to our OFWs who are sacrificing some of the best years of their lives to
help us combat this most important economic challenge through the remittances that they
send year in and year out. As I have said in several occasions, this year 2009 we may get as
much as much as $18 billion from our OFWs, contributing to the 4 percent GDP growth that
It is easy to blame corrupt government officials and greedy capitalists for our enduring
poverty. Without condoning corruption and dishonest practices, I must point out that, with
the exception of Singapore, East Asian countries that have eliminated poverty were also
notorious for corruption. Just think of Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Thailand. Their
government officials and private entrepreneurs were not exactly paragons of honesty and fair
play during the decades when their respective economies were growing by leaps and bounds.
Every society has to uproot corruption for moral reasons. Dishonesty is immoral. It should
2
never be tolerated in any democratic society. But it does not explain the main difference
between countries that succeed in eliminating poverty and those that fail. We must find the
The neo-Malthusians blame rapid population growth for our poverty situation. I find
this explanation laughable especially during these times when the only countries in Asia that
are posting positive GDP growth rates are the countries which huge populations, and
therefore sizable domestic markets which partly immunize them from collapsing export
markets. If one takes a look at the so-called emerging markets that are forecasted to dominate
the global economy in the next twenty years, they have a common denominator: they all
have at least 50 million people, i.e., Brazil, Russia, India, China, Indonesia, Pakistan, Mexico,
Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, etc. Large and young populations have two advantages:
they provide low-labor costs and attractive consumer markets. The ones who are afraid that
the Philippines will have Standing Room Only (SR0) if our population keeps growing should
be told that our rich East Asian neighbors have population densities much higher than the
Philippines: Singapore (7,223 per sq. km), Hong Kong (6,501), Taiwan (625) and South
Korea (483). When Philippine population peaks in 2025, the population density will not even
exceed 400 persons per sq. km. In addition, the Philippines is much richer in natural
Then why is the Philippines poor? The main answer is that for thirty long years after
the Second World War, our leaders adopted economic policies that fostered an inward-
nationalist ideologies not very different from what most Latin American countries
implemented with the same dire consequences. Over-reacting to our colonial past (as did the
that did nothing to address our massive unemployment and underemployment problem. The
3
worst consequence of these failed economic policies was not the eventual demise of the so-
called infant industries that never grew up. The most devastating result was the almost
capital resources in the white elephants of the manufacturing sector, there were no resources
left to build farm-to-market roads, irrigation systems, post-harvest facilities, seaports, and
airports that were essential to making our small farmers productive. Agrarian reform failed,
not because of the fragmentation of land, but because we did not provide the small farmers
For some of our economic policy makers during this sad stage of our history, the
neglect of countryside and agricultural development was more of a sin of omission: they
were so obsessed with industrialization that they were blind to the needs of the rural
populations, which accounted for 50 percent or more of the labor force. For a few others,
however, the neglect of the countryside was based on an ideology that agriculture was a
despicable sector that was the very symbol of colonial servitude. I remember debates that the
late Jimmy Ongpin (who served as Finance Secretary under President Cory Aquino) and I had
with some leading economists who were hell bent on investing more heavily on capital-
intensive industries oriented to the domestic market. Because we were arguing for more
wood and a drawer of water." Jimmy Ongpin even made a trip to Southern Spain to present
evidence to these critics of agriculture that agribusiness can be even more high-tech than the
The rest is history. The bias against agriculture was so ingrained at the highest levels of
Philippine society that it took almost till the end of the last century before a real shift toward
agricultural and rural development could take place. In the meantime, our non-identical twin
in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Thailand, was busy building farm-to-market roads,
4
irrigation systems, post-harvest facilities, etc. The result was dramatic. Whereas we were
well ahead of Thailand in almost all indicators of human development in the late 1970s, today
Thailand--the agribusiness superpower of Southeast Asia--has twice our per capita income
and a poverty line one-third ours. It has become the largest rice exporter in the world and a
large exporter of many other high-value agricultural products. Because of the enlightened
policy of focusing on rural and agricultural development, Thailand has been able to attain a
higher level of development and significantly reduce poverty, despite the fact that corruption
Our story does not have to have an unhappy ending. In 1998, when Senator Edgardo
Angara was the Secretary of Agriculture under the Estrada Administration, we saw a
and agricultural development. Fortunately, this redirection of economic policy has been
retained under the Administration of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Witness the
highway which has greatly improved the efficiency of transport of agricultural products from
one island to another. The very visible improvements in Central Luzon (Clark-Subic-Tarlac
highways) are being replicated in the Northern Luzon Agribusiness Quadrangle, in many
regions in Mindanao, in very poor provinces like Aurora and Bicol, etc. As long as the next
President will continue the focus on countryside infrastructure, we can be optimistic that we
can make a dent on our serious poverty problem in the next ten to twenty years. After all, 70
There is one advice I would like to give to the OFWs reading this column. If and when
you return to the Philippines, use your talents, experiences and capital to engage in small and
medium-scale businesses in your respective provinces. You can grow high-value crops like
provinces like Laguna, Cavite, Batangas, and Bulacan which have the ten million consumers
of Metro Manila as your market. You can also operate restaurants, bed-and-breakfast and
other tourist facilities, nurseries and kindergartens and other service establishments in the
increasingly urbanized rural areas in Central and Northern Luzon and in Northern and
Southern Mindanao. Staying in the provinces does not mean that you have to be necessarily
involved in agriculture. You can be in the many small-scale industries and services that are
now dotting the countryside as better infrastructures are helping to disperse population away
from the National Capital Region. As you come close to retirement age, you will find living
in the Philippines much more pleasant than staying wherever you are. As you helped them
with the remittances you sent all these years, you can also help to take care of your aging
parents and grandparents with your physical presence upon your return. For comments, my