The Philippines is home to different dishes than my friends from the mainland US are used to. I grew up with many of these dishes in Hawaii, but my volunteer friends had never heard of balut (fertilized chicken or duck eggs). To the left, they get their first taste. 
We also had a cookout to learn to prepare Filipino dishes like pansit, lumpia and lechon manok (chicken over a fire - see sequence below)
March 17, 2003 - I recently read an interesting book titled Economic Development by Feliciano Fajardo.  I am used to reading about "third world/south/developing countries" from western authors, detailing the problems of "others" development. I was surprised by how hard this author was on his own people. He noted that the Philippines in the 1950's had a similar per capita income with Japan and was far ahead of other nations like Thailand and Indonesia. Many countries in Southeast Asia experienced sustained and rapid growth in the 1980's and 90's, the Philippines did not. Today, the Philippines is considered a stagnant economy. I read a few analysis reports that stated the Philippines is last on the list for investment in Asia. Why? The Philippines has a great location, next to many shipping lanes and has the largest english speaking population in Asia. Due to factors like political corruption, unenforced legal system and lack of infrastructure, the Philippines has not experienced the growth that has propelled countries like South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore. The Philippines does not produce enough food to feed all its people. It can feed only 60% of its population. This is a county whose land is very fertile. In agricultural efficiency, it is behind Thailand and Vietnam in rice production. 

Countries like Taiwan and Thailand have based their economic development on improving their agricultural efficiency before industrialization. They were able to focus on exporting rice and other crops to gain foreign currency and followed with industrialization. In the Philippines, there was never an effort to focus on agricultural efficiency. Instead, the country tried to industrialize. Universities were built to train young people to become engineers, teachers, nurses and business professionals. However, there are no jobs for all these professionals in the Philippines.  Many young people head overseas to find work that pays better. A majority of the domestic workers in Hong Kong are from the Philippines and many Filipinos find work in the Middle East. Many overseas workers send money back to their families in the Philippines and that money supports an entire family.

The Philippines has had a stagnant growth rate for the last 20 years. The government has tried recently with its focus on global excellence and people empowerment. The author admonished Filipino educational, political, social and cultural institutions. 

We are development workers. Does that mean that we are here to change these cultural institutions of the Philippines?  We realize that Americans are very  accomplisment oriented.  We would not be here if we did not do well in that system. We do not know if it is the best or only way to live. It might be in the Philippines best interest if we do transmit our values of being on time and working hard. Maybe.                                                                                                                                                                                      Home
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