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| ON THE OTHER HAND |
| Democratic Solutions, 2 By Antonio C. Abaya Written Feb. 15, 2005 For the Manila Standard February 17 issue Having zeroed in on what he apparently believes is the crux of our malaise � namely, that �our country�s strengths are PEOPLE STRENGTH, but our country�s weaknesses are government weaknesses� � General Almonte then expands on this theme. �The BLOCK to our global competitiveness is government. And it is government which must shape up if we Filipinos are to compete successfully��. �But in the developing world � among the new countries striving for �late industrialization� � the State must necessarily assume a vital role. And our country�s key failing is that the Philippine State is too weak to carry the interventionist policies that South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore � even Malaysia and Thailand � all managed successfully. �In our country, dirigiste policies have merely facilitated rent-seeking and political corruption. (General Almonte, however, does not explain why this is so. ACA.) �Protectionism, for instance, has played only to the oligarchy�s interest.� (I do not share this ritualistic bashing of �the oligarchy.� Every country is ruled by an oligarchy, such as, for example, the Big Business supporters of George W. Bush�s Republican Party. Even the supposedly egalitarian Soviet Union was ruled by an oligarchy, the nomenklatura, whose members made up less than two percent of the population, and who enjoyed consumerist lifestyles and regal privileges unknown to the ordinary Soviet citizen. ACA). (Besides, protectionism in Japan and South Korea and Taiwan, which no doubt �played to the interests� of the zaibatsus, the chaebols and the Kuomintang fat cats, also raised the standard of living of the broad mass to bourgeois middle-class levels. Why it did not do so in the Philippines and merely �facilitated rent-seeking and political corruption,� I will try to explain in a future article. ACA.) �All of us who are in this country to stay must worry about the quality of our country�s governance, for it has become the crucial element in our country�s competitiveness. �Nowadays, physical, financial, and even intellectual resources no longer hold the key to competitiveness, since countries which lack these resources can now �import� them. �If countries need iron ore, finance capital, or nuclear physicists, they can nowadays �outsource� them. The only thing countries cannot outsource is good government itself (emphasis his). �Good governance must be homegrown. And we cannot underestimate the importance of sound political institutions and sensible policies for improving the lot of a poor nation like our own. Simple guarantees such as safe �property rights� � secure business contracts � predictable economic policies can make all the difference between wealth and poverty. �The lack of these guarantees in our country explains why Filipino workers� productivity rises astonishingly once they migrate to a better-governed country.� (I don�t know about higher productivity being due to �safe property rights, secure business contracts and predictable economic policies.� I think it is due more to the obvious fact that �in a better-governed country� harder work does result in higher incomes which then translates into more material and emotional rewards. ACA.) (But I will agree that �in a better-governed country,� Filipinos do become more law-abiding: they observe traffic laws, pay their taxes and throw their garbage into the proper trash bins. That�s because they know there will usually be a consequence if they don�t: a fine or a jail sentence or both. But once they return, they usually revert to their old habits, because they know that here there is no consequence for anti-social behavior. ACA.) (One secret for having a �better-governed country� is: observe and enforce the law, strictly, consistently and equitably. That means leaders of military mutinies must be thrown into the stockade or executed by firing squad, not slapped on the wrist with 30 push-ups, as they were by Gen. Almonte�s FVR in 1986. It means military comptrollers found to have unexplained wealth must be court-martialed and jailed for thievery, not for the minor offense of perjury, for failing to declare their stolen assets, as they currently are under GMA. ACA.) �Throughout recent history, democracies have reverted to authoritarianism; states have failed; and the realms of liberty have contracted for citizens. Nowadays, with the economy in crisis, all too many Filipinos long for a leader strong enough to knock heads together and point the country in the right direction.� (And what is wrong with that? ACA.) �But authoritarianism, no matter how benign, is unworkable in a dual-society like ours.� (But why did authoritarianism work in tri-communal societies like Malaysia and Singapore? Muslim Malays, Buddhist Chinese, Hindu Tamils. This is a much more complex mix than �modern Filipinos and their feudal politicians.� Yet authoritarianism was able to weld those three disparate communities in Malaysia and Singapore into prosperous wholes, while liberal democracy has failed to bridge the gap between modern and feudal in the Philippines. ACA.) �As we know only too well, the Philippines is modern enough for people to demand their political rights, yet still feudal enough for many of our politicians to regard government as just a means of distributing patronage.� (I think many modern Filipinos would like nothing better than to demand that those feudal politicians be locked up in jail, or at least removed from power, even by force. ACA.) �CAN WE RESOLVE OUR PROBLEMS DEMOCRATICALLY?� And here we come to the core of General Almonte�s thesis: �Our democracy may be far from perfect, but it can still work well enough for us to improve our situation incrementally.� (Emphases his.) (Incrementally?�. the way a glacier moves, even with the aid of gravity? ACA.) �I suggest that, to compensate for the weaknesses of the Philippine State, we harness the power of the market to the public interest. I see as our highest priority as working to free the economy as far and as fast as we can � so that the more impartial market can begin to make the decisions our all-too-fallible politicians and bureaucrats cannot do. (Emphasis his.) �Over the last generation, the spread of the market economy throughout East Asia has brought not only higher living standards. It has also had a liberative political effect. Just as early capitalism subverted feudalism in Western Europe, so has the commercial way of life ended authoritarian regimes in our part of the world.� (If by �market economy� and �the commercial way of life� and �open economy� General Almonte means �free trade and globalization, I will have to disagree with him. The higher living standards in South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand and China [Singapore and Hong Kong being traditional free ports] were brought about by a deliberate economic strategy, in the 70s, 80s and 90s, of manufacturing goods for export, with domestic producers (the evil oligarchs) protected against foreign competition by their interventionist governments. (To this day, many of the protectionist measures that built and nurtured this prosperity are still in place, even though the political environments have been liberalized, in response to the rise of the middle class. But without a strategy of manufacturing goods for export, without interventionist governments, without protection against foreign competition, there would have been no prosperity and there would have been no middle class. ACA.) �Over the longer run, we need to propagate a self-confident, outward-looking kind of nationalism � a nationalism unafraid to measure itself to world standards. �Despite all the failings and weaknesses of our representative system, I continue to be hopeful of its future. For all our fecklessness, we Filipinos have shown ourselves capable of taking control of our own fate at critical political junctures � and peaceably to enforce the collective decisions that must be made. �Twice in the last 20 years, ordinary Filipinos have responded to the plunder of their resources, and the violation of their civic rights �decisively, spontaneously, and peacefully. ��People Power� has now become something of a Filipino invention � direct action to correct our own political mistakes � which other peoples have resorted to in their own need. �For as long as we can exercise this power, we Filipinos cannot fail � as a free state and a self-conscious nation. Because there are no failed nations; there are only those which can no longer make a revolution.� (Emphasis his.) (Hear! Hear! Would General Almonte now support another Edsa �revolution�, our very own democratic solution, �to correct (another of) our own political mistakes?� ACA) Reactions to [email protected] or fax 824-7642. Other articles in www.tapatt.org. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Reactions to �Democratic Solutions (2)� Tony, I agree with Almonte's analysis that a military strong arm rule can not succeed in the Philippines for the simple reason that the country is divided among regional and dialect lines. A 'weak' state or a state that is held together by an attiude of mutual tolerance among ethnic tribes will be unable to exert its muscle in a way that breaks this code of mutual tolerance. This means that the Batanguenos and the Tagalogs from Southern Luzon will resent if an Ilokano firing squad for instance executes mainly Tagalogs for being 'corrupt'. The Tagalogs will not look at the virtue of the State as the dispenser of justice - it will see Ilokanos shooting at Tagalogs. Thanks. Manuel Tiangha, [email protected] February 19, 2005 MY REPLY. You are again misquoting somebody. General Almonte did not say that �a military strong arm rule can not succeed in the Philippines�.� If you�ll bother to reread his speech as quoted above, he said �But authoritarianism, no matter how benign, is unworkable in a dual-society like ours�.� �Authoritarianism� and �military strong arm rule� are not necessarily the same thing. Malaysia and Singapore are ruled by authoritarian governments in the sense that their press is not totally free, and communists are not allowed to organize and participate in their public life. But Malaysia and Singapore are not run by their military. They are run by civilian politicians who are subject to votes of confidence in parliament and general elections every five years. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Mr. Abaya: Speaking of Japan, FYI, the reign of the Zaibatsus ended with WWII. My husband's uncle belonged to one of the powerful families before WWII, the Iwasakis, who were in the heavy industries and shipping businesses. At the end of the war, the family was stripped off of prewar privileges, etc., and the children were left with a pittance after the government sequestered a lot of their properties that were in fact used to pay reparations to countries occupied by the now defunct Japanese Imperial Army. Except for a few families like the Mitsuis, etc. which continued to flourish until now, being in the money market and real estate business, the Zaibatsus were practically "killed" by the Constitution, etc. tailored by the Americans to ensure that Japan will not be a "menace" to mankind, especially to its neighbors, again. Funny how the Chinese, etc., for example criticize the Japanese for not teaching their children about what the Japanese soldiers did in WWII, but they do as a matter of fact except that they are not putting too much emphasis on details that ironically may rekindle the kind of nationalism that existed till 1945, when majority of the Japanese would be willing to cut their bellies for the emperor and not live in shame for being defeated in the war. In a way, it was a blessing in disguise that the Japanese felt that way for the emperor and their country. I do not believe the emperor to be a direct descendant of the Sun Goddess, Amaterasu, for I do not believe in such folklore, but what Japan is now has something to do still with how people here regard the emperor, who was admittedly a binding force and what kept Japanese sanity after the war. The Philippines is in a chaos because Filipinos do not have that kind of bond to their country so that you see Filipinos preferring to leave their country and forget about it completely, not even teach their children to have some kind of filial piety for the country of their birth that I see in children of Japanese abroad but not in children of Filipinos who would even despise their parents' homeland such as the children of a Filipino woman overstaying in Japan who was asking for political asylum for her Burmese husband, herself and her children. I did not sign a petition being passed around by her sympathizers as I felt nauseated by what her children were telling the Japanese media about why they would not like to go with their mother to the Philippines! Also, I guess having a name that is uniquely Japanese helps a lot in keeping that fire of nationalism burning. Filipinos even have borrowed Spanish names that do not make them Spanish either! Japan is a success story because the government here has made sure that everyone is not left stupid and unlearned. One of the first things the postwar government did in fact was gather the waifs and orphans roaming the streets so that they could no longer be victimized by gangsters out to snare those homeless streetchildren. They were put in homes, actually sequestered properties of these Zaibatsus, and the government under the supervision of the US occupation headed by General Douglas MacArthur made sure that the Child Welfare Law would be one of the basic laws to be drafted together with the US-tailored Constitution that banned Japanese remilitarization. The Child Welfare Law was passed and implemented in 1947 that made compulsory education mandatory on the belief that the children are the hopes of the motherland. Even those considered incapable of learning are sent to school to complete the 9-year education with parents being made legally responsible for their education. The Child Welfare Law also protects Japanese children from being exploited the way the Philippine government exploit uneducated Filipino children who are herded in Japanese bars, clubs and even prostitution dens in Japan, a fact that everybody here knows and reason for the new Immigration Law that the Philippine government denies and now contests. Philippine democracy is a farce for the power lies not in the people, who are mostly poor and illiterate, but in the few who do not want to part with what they have but want more. Frankly, I feel sorry for the Philippines as I watch Filipinos "abandon" their country like a sinking ship so they can survive. I can understand the survival instinct, but I have difficulty understanding the mentality of a Filipino who is about to be released from prison but has asked for extension of his term for at least one year so he can save what little earning he can get doing factory work in prison. The other day, I interpreted for a newly incarcerated Filipino, who could hardly read and write because he reached only Grade 5 as his parents were poor and he had to help them feed their family. He said he came to Japan because he could work here and get good pay even when he had no higher education. For me, it is a reflection of the failure in the Philippines of democracy that should have guaranteed equal opportunity to all, learned or not, haves or have-nots. Yuko Takei, [email protected] Tokyo, Japan, February 19, 2005 MY REPLY. Thank you for your peroration on your husband�s country Japan, which is now your adopted country. I am quite aware that the zaibatsus were officially disbanded by the MacArthur Constitution, but the giant corporations that rose after the war (Toyota, Honda, etc) benefited from a similar protectionist policy enjoyed by the zaibatsus since the Meiji Restoration in the late 19th Century. This protectionist policy allowed Japan to become an industrial country, just as it did the US during the same time frame. If Japan had remained an agricultural country, or allowed unlimited foreign competition against its nascent industries, it would still be as poor a country now as it was in the 1860s when Commodore Perry�s Black Ships came to visit. The Philippines is poor because its leaders failed to develop a broad manufacturing base during the 70s and 80s, when South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and even Indonesia were industrializing. And now its leaders have foolishly embraced free trade and globalization, ruining many of the industries that had managed to set up. We are really our own worst enemies. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww "CAN WE RESOLVE OUR PROBLEMS DEMOCRATICALLY?" And here we come to the core of General Almonte's thesis: "Our democracy may be far from perfect, but it can still work well enough for us to improve our situation incrementally." (Emphases his.) (Incrementally?.. the way a glacier moves, even with the aid of gravity? ACA "I suggest that, to compensate for the weaknesses of the Philippine State, we harness the power of the market to the public interest. I see as our highest priority as working to free the economy as far and as fast as we can - so that the more impartial market can begin to make the decisions our all-too-fallible politicians and bureaucrats cannot do. (Emphasis his.) "Over the last generation, the spread of the market economy throughout East Asia has brought not only higher living standards. It has also had a liberative political effect. Just as early capitalism subverted feudalism in Western Europe, so has the commercial way of life ended authoritarian regimes in our part of the world." Tet[Anything faster than incremental could be explosive and violent; and at a price we may not be willing to pay for.] (THE ECONOMIC TIGERS OF ASIA � SOUTH KOREA, TAIWAN, CHINA, TAIWAN HONG KONG, SINGAPORE, MALAYSIA AND THAILAND � GOT TO WHERE THEY ARE NOW THRU GDP GROWTH RATES OF 8 TO 12% PER ANNUM FOR 20 YEARS. IT WAS NEITHER �EXPLOSIVE NOR VIOLENT� WHICH YOU CAN SEE FOR YOURSELF IF YOU WERE TO VISIT THESE COUNTRIES YOURSELF. OUR AVERAGE GROWTH RATE OF 3.1% OVER THE PAST 20 YEARS IS JUST NOT GOOD ENOUGH. OUR GDP GROWTH RATE OF 6.1% IN 2004 IS CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR. ACA.) (If by "market economy" and "the commercial way of life" and "open economy" General Almonte means "free trade and globalization, I will have to disagree with him. The higher living standards in South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand and China [Singapore and Hong Kong being traditional free ports] were brought about by a deliberate economic strategy, in the 70s, 80s and 90s, of manufacturing goods for export, with domestic producers (the evil oligarchs) protected against foreign competition by their interventionist governments. Tet[Our economists have agreed that competition offered by the "market economy" is the surest way to attain efficiencies in our production and wealth-creating processes.] (BUT SUPPOSE THOSE ECONOMISTS HAD IT ALL WRONG? THE PATHETIC STATE OF THE PHILIPPINES � WHEN COMPARED TO SOUTH KOREA, TAIWAN, SINGAPORE, MALAYSIA AND THAILAND � IS PROOF POSITIVE THAT OUR ECONOMISTS AND THE PRESIDENTS THEY ADVISED DID HAVE IT ALL WRONG. ACA) (To this day, many of the protectionist measures that built and nurtured this prosperity are still in place, even though the political environments have been liberalized, in response to the rise of the middle class. But without a strategy of manufacturing goods for export, without interventionist governments, without protection against foreign competition, there would have been no prosperity and there would have been no middle class. ACA.) Tet[There is a place for this protectionism - at the start when people have to be whipped into line; but once the direction is set, then government has to let go.] (THEN HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN WHY PROTECTIONISM IS STILL BEING PRACTICED IN JAPAN, SOUTH KOREA, CHINA, RUSSIA, TAIWAN, MALAYSIA, USA, FRANCE, ITALY ETC DECADES AND CENTURIES AFTER THEY ESTABLISHED THEIR INDUSTRIES? ACA) "Over the longer run, we need to propagate a self-confident, outward-looking kind of nationalism - a nationalism unafraid to measure itself to world standards. Tet[See, we are talking here of a process of lifting the whole economy by its bootstraps, not an overnight transformation as if by magic medicine.] (SO WHO IS ADVOCATING OVERNIGHT MAGIC? AS STATED ABOVE, THE ASIAN TIGERS GOT TO WHERE THEY ARE NOW THROUGH GDP GROWTH RATES OF 8-12% PER ANNUM OVER 20 LONG YEARS, LARGELY THROUGH THE EXPORT OF MANUFACTURED GOODS. ACA.) -------------------------------snipped-------------------------------- "For as long as we can exercise this power, we Filipinos cannot fail - as a free state and a self-conscious nation. Because there are no failed nations; there are only those which can no longer make a revolution." (Emphasis his.) (Hear! Hear! Would General Almonte now support another Edsa 'revolution', our very own democratic solution, "to correct (another of) our own political mistakes?" ACA) Tet[Edsa revolutions are like taking quick-action medication such as paracetamol. Since the problem is systemic, we must not be content with just removing the symptoms, let us apply some long-lasting remedies, and if we all conclude, after a second, third or fourth opinion, then let us take the bitter pill or the life-threatening surgical operation. I hope you will continue the discussions through another Almonte speech where he moves forward and illustrates areas in our economy that need some drastic changes.] Tet Gambito, [email protected] February 21, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww (Copy furnished) Pareng AE, Looks like JoeAl's solutions are vague and full of motherhood statements. No concrete and specific prescription. No wonder, Tony Abaya is not impressed. In other words, nothing is new that titillates our curiosity..hehe. Thanks. CC Jerome Escobedo, [email protected] February 21, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Tony, Thank you for re-sending me the articles listed below (that I had requested). I have saved those that I did not have copies of. Among the articles that I forwarded to President Gloria Macapagal -Arroyo's senior contacts for very serious consideration because of the merits of the analysis and contents were: - those cautioning against the indiscriminate acceptance and application of Hernando de Soto's poverty alleviation proposals - those advocating massive low-cost but decent housing for low-income groups using material produced by firms owned by the poor - the greater use of rail-based urban public transport Thanks for sending me the info on www.tapatt.org . Keep well, for the country needs you. Very sincerely, Archie Romeo J. Intengan SJ, [email protected] Father Provincial, Society of Jesus February 21, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Greetings, Tony. Thanks for re-sending me some articles you wrote, that mention the ongoing investigation of former AFP Comptroller Gen. Carlos P. Garcia. These are for me good material for reflection and prayer, and among of the bases for policy recommendations and my own political advocacy. More power to you, Tony. Archie Romeo J. Intengan, SJ, [email protected] February 21, 2005 Wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww The power of personal example should also be emphasized, e.g., the late Pres. Ramon Magsaysay and Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore. Tom de Guzman, [email protected] February 21, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Tony, Here below are my reactions to your reactions to Gen. Almonte's discourse. (Besides, protectionism in Japan and South Korea and Taiwan, which no doubt �played to the interests� of the zaibatsus, chaebols and the Kuomintang fat cats, also raised the standard of living of the broad mass to bourgeois middle-class levels. Why it did not do so in the Philippines and merely �facilitated rent-seeking and political corruption,� I will try to explain in a future article. ACA.) This is precisely what I have pointed out to you before. We have a greedy and unpatriotic economic elite in this country. Unlike the Zaibatsus of Japan, the Chaebols of South Korea and the Kuomintang fat cats in Taiwan, the economic elite in this country that has benefited from protectionist policies in the past has merely filled its pockets. Earnings have not been reinvested to modernize and develop the industries it controlled. The once protected telecom industry (PLDT) and the still protected sugar and domestic shipping industries are but a few examples of such greed and unpatriotism. Gen. Almonte and the countless local and foreign economic development experts who have examined the Philippine situation are right. In this country, we need the impersonal checks-and-balances of a free market to shape-up our industries. The current state of the liberalized telecom industry is a testimony to the soundness of this recommendation. Removing constitutional restrictions and allowing foreign investment is surely going to drive the industry to even greater heights. Meanwhile, the sugar and shipping industries that has remained protected continue to be decrepit and to impose its costly products and services to the Filipino people. The outrageous costs of sugar and shipping are perhaps the two most serious impediments to the development of agriculture and the fruit and food processing industries of Mindanao. Former Agriculture Secretary Roberto Sebastian has once pointed out that instead of investing in modernization and development, the sugar industry has focused its investment in political capital to keep its unwarranted privileges. This I believe is the rent-seeking and corruption that Gen. Almonte refers to. Here in this country, interventionist policies have only served to favor exclusively the economic and political elite. There has been no trickle down of the benefits, unlike in the countries you have mentioned. To keep its unwarranted privileges, the economic elite provides a steady stream of grease money to the politicians. THE ASIAN TIGERS MANAGED TO DEVELOP A BROAD MIDDLE CLASS BECAUSE THEIR CHOSEN STRATEGY OF MANUFACTURING GOODS FOR EXPORT PROVIDED EMPLOYMENT FOR A MUCH WIDER CROSS SECTION OF SOCIETY THAN OUR CHOSEN STRATEGY OF IMPORT SUBSTITUTION. WE PRODUCE SOME 200,000 WALL AIR CONDITIONERS A YEAR FOR THE DOMESTIC MARKET. MALAYSIA (pop 20 MILLION) PRODUCES TWO MILLION UNITS A YEAR FOR THE WORLD MARKET. THAT GIVES YOU AN IDEA OF THE COMPARATIVE EMPLOYMENT PICTURES. ACA THE ECONOMIC ELITE HERE WOULD LIKE NOTHING BETTER THAN A MUCH BIGGER MIDDLE CLASS THAN WHAT WE HAVE NOW, SINCE THIS MEANS MORE CUSTOMERS FOR THEIR SHOPPING MALLS, BANKS, FOOD PRODUCTS, AIRLINES, SHIPPING LINES, TV AND RADIO STATIONS, RESORTS AND HOTELS, POWER PLANTS, TELECOM INDUSTRIES, BEER AND SOFT DRINKS, SUBDIVISIONS, INSURANCE COMPANIES, PRIVATE SCHOOLS AND HOSPITALS, ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRIES, ETC. BUT IMPORT SUBSTITUITON, THE POLICY CHOSEN BY THE POLITICAL LEADERS, TOGETHER WITH A RUNAWAY POPULATION GROWTH, JUST COULD NOT GENERATE ENOUGH JOBS AND HENCE STUNTED THE GROWTH OF THE MIDDLE CLASS. ACA. We have seen for ourselves how authoritarianism has only made matters worst in this country. As to why you continue to wish it back really escapes me. We have to learn from experience and come up with more innovative solutions to our problems. You have to admit that democracy in this country with all its shortcomings has done considerably better than authoritarianism. Perhaps what we need to do is build on the strengths of our democratic system rather than dismiss it altogether in favor of something that has already failed. JAPAN, CHINA, SOUTH KOREA, TAIWAN, SINGAPORE, MALAYSIA, THAILAND, VIETNAM AND SUHARTO�S INDONESIA ACHIEVED THEIR HIGHEST GROWTH RATES UNDER AUTHORITARIAN GOVERNMENTS. THE PHILIPPINES IS THE ONLY COUNTRY IN ASIA TRYING TO DO SO UNDER A LIBERAL DEMOCRACY AND DOING POORLY AT IT. THAT�S EIGHT TO ONE IN FAVOR OF AUTHORITARIANISM. THE FACT THAT SOME OF THOSE EIGHT HAVE LIBERALIZED THEIR POLITICS DOES NOT ERASE THE FACT THAT THEIR ECONOMIC SUCCESSES WERE ACHIEVED UNDER AUTHORITARIANISM. ACA. Yes, Gen. Almonte is right. The higher growths and standards of living of the Asian tiger economies have been propelled by economic liberalization. NOT TRUE. THEIR HIGH GROWTH RATES WERE ACHIEVED UNDER PROTECTIONISM. IF YOU THINK CHINA, THE FASTEST GROWING ECONOMY IN THE WORLD, IS BASKING UNDER ECONOMIC LIBERALIZATION, YOU�RE VASTLY MISINFORMED. You are right that they all started with protected economies, but even higher growth and standards of living have only been made possible by liberal economic reforms over the last two decades. Some protectionist measures no doubt remain but they are systematically being removed. China for instance has just liberalized its domestic banana industry. We can now export banana to China in unlimited quantities. This has pushed export prices of banana to Japan higher because of the Japanese fear of losing their traditional Filipino suppliers to the China market. WHAT PERCENTAGE OF CHINA�S ECONOMY DO BANANAS ACCOUNT FOR? ACA This has always been my proposed solution to our problems. We must come together once again and demand greater responsibility from our political leaders now in another EDSA or in the next election. Another EDSA is not so bad as another authoritarian government. The outcome of our past two EDSAs and the outcome of our experiment in authoritarianism can speak for themselves. AT LEAST WE ARE AGREED ON ONE THING. WE NEED ANOTHER EDSA. BUT WE DO NOT NEED, OH GOD, ANOTHER CORY AQUINO OR ANOTHER GLORIA ARROYO. IF WE CAN FIND A FILIPINO LEE KWAN YEW, THAT�S MY MAN. ACA. Gico Dayanghirang, [email protected] February 22, 2005 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO |