By Mortz C. Ortigoza
Economic experts said the Philippines lags
with South East Asian neighbours Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, and Singapore in
terms of foreign direct investment (FDI).
Filipinos breed like rabbits. PHOTO CREDIT: Rappler.com |
To cite data from the United Nations
Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), it says our country in 2014 got
U.S$ 6.2 billion foreign direct investment (FDI) only while FDI poured
generously at the tune of $ 9.2 billion in Vietnam, $ 22.6 billion in
Indonesia, $12.6 Thailand, and S67.5 billion in Singapore in the same year.
Philippines snared more foreign monies in
South East Asia
Since we talk here about foreign monies that
benefit our people, the Philippine was not a sissy, as many economics expert
painted, on snaring FDI.
We are
Top 2 after Singapore in the burgeoning South East Asian (SEA) economic alliance
in getting foreign monies in and outside the Philippines.
Our country is a recipient of a staggering
U.S $34.60 billion if we include the U.S $28.40 billion (World Bank) remittances
sent by the millions of overseas foreign workers (OFWs), the ballyhooed economic
saving grace of the country, in 2014.
So if Vietnam and Indonesia (second and third
after the Philippines in the SEA region that send workers overseas) have
U.S$21.20 billon and U.S$ 31.15 billion, respectively if we integrate the data
from UNCTAD and the remittances list from the World Bank, the Philippines
becomes No. 2 after Singapore by ranking who got the most foreign monies.
Despite being the Top 2, probably the first
time you read from a columnist, why we are still poor versus Thailand and
Singapore despite the $34.60 billion that entered the country and the 6.7 percent
Gross Domestic Product last year – dubbed as one of the fastest economic growth
engines in the world?
Pathetic Per Capita Income and 9.1 million
unemployed
With a per capita income (PCI) of U.S
$2,872.5 (World Bank, 2011-2014) versus Thailand and Singapore’s PCI of
$5,977.4 and $ 56,284.6,respectively, we
have 6.8 percent unemployment rate or 4, 228,852 unemployed in a labor force of
62, 189,000 according to the Philippine Statistics Office.
But the December 8, 2015 survey of the Social
Weather Station said that 9.1 million Filipinos were unemployed.
PCI, by the way, is the mean money income
received in the past 12 months computed for every man, woman, and child in a
geographic area. It is derived by dividing the total income of all people 15
years old and over in a geographic area by the total population in that area.
This massive number of jobless, aggravated
this year by the dropped of the prices of oil in the Middle East, and the
runaway population explosion, where ironically the poor bear more children than
the moneyed, would aggravate the economic stocks of the poor in the Philippines.
Aggressively Promote Population Control
To arrest the exploding demography, so there
would be less poor Filipinos who will compete with the jobs brought by FDI, our
growing manufacturing base, the jobs generated because of the remittances of
the OFWs, and the business outsourcing firms, the government should
aggressively promote population control by giving contraceptives to the people.
But if these dole-outs of condoms, pills, and
others will smack head on with the legalities as provided by the Reproductive
Health Law, the private sectors through foundations, can play a role on the
promotion (just like Trust Condom promoted then on TV as advertisement) or
their free distribution.
Let’s emulate Thailand how to reduce our
population
Let us compare the Philippines to Thailand
that economically dusted off us significantly, say, in terms of PCI where each of
them got $5,977.4 a year while each Filipinos had $2,872.5 PCI a year in
2011-2014 World Bank’s records.
Remember in 1975 Thailand and the Philippines
had roughly the same population, a high population growth rate, a high
fertility rate, and the same number of the population living under poverty
line.
But because the Thai government, just like
the Marcos Administration in the 1970s, aggressively promote family controls
for 35 years after 1975, the following results, according to Dr. Nibhon
Debavalya, Thailand’s leading population expert, ensued:
·
Thailand
was able to radically reduce its population growth rate to 0.6 percent while
the Philippines inched down to 2.04 percent in the period 1970-2010.
·
During
the period 1970-2008, Thailand’s GDP per capita grew by 4.4 percent, while the
Philippines’ grew by 1.4 percent.
·
By
2008, Thailand’s total GDP was $273 billion while the Philippines’ was $167
billion. (Note: In 2014, Thailand
and Philippines’ GDP were $437, 344,000,000 and $ 278,260, 000,000 ,
respectively (World Bank)
·
By
2010, there were 93.6 million Filipinos, or over 20 million more than the 68.1
million Thais. This gap of 25.5 million is the demographic advantage enjoyed by
Thailand – one that has made a vast difference in the economic performance and
the quality of life of the people in the two countries.
·
By
2008, owing partly to its demographic performance, Thailand’s GDP per capita
was $4,043 or more than twice that of the Philippines, which stood at $1,847.
·
By
2010, only 9.6 percent of Thais lived under the national poverty line while
26.4 percent of Filipinos did.
How can we uplift the standard of living of
the Filipinos
If we quantify these data between Thailand,
that encourages 100 percent foreign investment, and the Philippines, that
encourages 40 percent foreign ownership as mandated by her Constitution, then
it is no longer debatable that the Thais have better standard of living by just
citing both countries’ PCI.
So how can we rev up our lethargic share of
the PCI?
My answer: Fight population explosion,
change the foreign economic equity on the corporate ownership from 40 percent to 100
percent just like what Vietnam and Singapore had done, diversify OFWs’ deployment overseas as
the dropped of the prices of oil in many states become an economic menace, and
buttress the growth of our local industries like manufacturing and business
outsourcing like call centres and medical transcriptionists.
On how to fight population explosion, here’s Debavalya.
“A final decisive factor was the
national government’s durable commitment to a comprehensive program that
systematically provided information and contraceptives, especially to the poor
and in rural areas”.
He said that while non government
organizations, such as Meechai’s Population and Community Development
Association, were important in educating rural Thais on the different methods
of family planning, it was the government that provided access to contraceptives in the
grassroots.
Remember, our country despite our $34.60 billion
foreign monies took in 2014 or the crap of being Economic Top 2 on that year
would be nothing if we do not arrest our runaway population explosion – the
real culprit why we have massive unemployment rate and limping poverty as a
result of the policies implemented by this misdirected and religion-scared government.
(You can read my selected columns at
http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com and articles at Pangasinan News Aro. You can
send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com)
"In a statement, NEDA Undersecretary for Planning and Policy Rosemarie Edillon said that strategies to attain the demographic dividend have already been spelled out in the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2017-2022.
TumugonBurahinThese include the “full and aggressive implementation of existing laws and policies,” such as the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act, the Magna Carta of Women, the National Population Policy and the carrying out of a sustained universal health care program.
“Maximizing the demographic dividend will ensure that the economy will expand even faster beyond the country’s medium-term plan and thus achieve the AmBisyon Natin 2040,” Edillon said.
PDP 2017-2022 is the blueprint for the country’s development under the Duterte administration. It is the first of four medium-term plans designed to realize Ambisyon Natin 2040, the collective vision of Filipinos over the next 25 years.
Comparing the Philippines and Thailand, Edillon said “both had roughly similar growth rates back in 1975.”
Thailand, however, was able to curb its population level and grew at an average of 1.6 percent only.
The Philippines, on the other hand, increased at an average of 2.4 percent in the 1990s and reached a population of 76 million.
This year, Philippine population soared to 105 million.
“What would have happened had the Philippines followed the population path of Thailand between 1975 and 2000?” Edillon asked.
Citing a study done by University of the Philippines’ School of Statistics dean Dennis Mapa, Edillon maintained that the Philippines “would have been an upper middle-income country had it followed Thailand’s population path.”
“There will be a cumulative increase of about 22 percent on the average income per person in the year 2000,” she said, adding that this means an average income of about $5,000 per person.
Edillon added that it is “not merely the population per se that the government must work on but (also) its quality.” (FROM: PopCom worried over rising population of the elderly
By Sheila Crisostomo (The Philippine Star) | Updated November 19, 2017 )