By Cai U. Ordinario
IF the country wants to reach first-world status, the national government must craft policies that aim to strengthen and protect local industries and human capital, according to Ibon Foundation Inc.
Ibon said President Aquino’s vision is to further open up the economy to attract big local and foreign businesses to invest in the country.
However, Ibon said this was not the path chosen by now—industrial countries which are considered as “first world.”
“Countries like the United States, the European Union and Japan, for instance, protected, nurtured and strengthened their local industries alongside maintaining foreign participation restriction in key sectors and imposing trade tariffs before opening up their economies, if at all,” Ibon said.
Ibon said that, on the other hand, the country relaxed restrictions in the economy, particularly in the last two decades.
Unfortunately, Ibon said, that while foreign investors made profits, these did not translate into a real contribution to domestic social and economic development.
Ibon said the country’s poverty incidence remains high. It estimated that about 65 million Filipinos live on P125 or even less per day.
Further, more than 1,200 elementary and high schools were allowed to hike their tuition, while health care remains inaccessible, especially to the poor.
Ibon also said that, while there was a recent decrease in unemployment, around 90 percent of jobs created in 2014 were only part-time jobs.
“The Aquino administration is even aiming to open up the economy even more under the most liberal terms possible. This will not result in the so-called first world status but will only mean an aggravation of the dismal trends of the last decades,” Ibon said.
Ibon is an independent development institution established in 1978 that provides research, education, publications, information work and advocacy support on socioeconomic issues.