Felixberto Baguyo, Jr. posted Wage Increase A Must where he stated that wages in the Philippines aren’t rising despite the rise in cost of living. He pointed the reason that the government did not want to incur additional cost to the investors – who are foreigners and are growing in population. He is correct, however that is not why my heart is heavy on this matter.

OFW population keeps rising. We work for foreigners, while the foreigners are invading us ecconomically and making use of our resources to further advance their economies. Basically what is happening is that the foreigners are taking advantage of the resources that our social studies teachers are praising that we have plenty of, while our own people are shipped outside the country to become slaves of other nations.

It’s really frustrating because we should be the ones to take advantage of our own resources, but what is the government doing? We are deprived of our own possession, instead they are offered to the our masters. We don’t realize it yet, but we really are being colonized. We are once again under the control of other nations.

Sapian Online (SOL) celebrates the New Year with an upgrade. The upgrade renews SOL’s commitment to reconnect Sapianons and, most importantly, affirm that Sapian is part and parcel of the global community.

Only a few New Years ago, the concept of globalization was a faint hum in the academe and Western capitals. Global concept for Sapian was no more than having relatives living or working overseas. And while we have been preoccupied with NPAs and lost commands, the miserable state of transportation and telecommunications made us feel that Sapian was too far removed from the world’s wars, political conflicts and religious extremism. Sapian’s potential physical exposure to a global crisis has been as rare and statistically remote as the fall of Skylab in July 1979. Likewise, the bottomless bounty of Sapian Bay and abundant produce on land cushioned Sapianons from the ill effects of economic downturns in the West. And the weather was a truly predictable cycle of monsoon rains with occasional surge to typhoons and dry summers with occasional drought spells. Gone were those days.

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FEMOCRACY AND HOME ECONOMICS 5

A PLACE IN THE GLOBAL WORLD

The fact that women now choose to vigorously compete with men for high- paying jobs has serious consequences in western societies. Birth rates are well below replacement level which means that not enough workers are being born to replace the ageing population, causing a massive labour shortage - another harsh reality of the downside of femocracy.

More and more developed countries have no choice but re-evaluate their immigration policies to address the issues mentioned above.  Added to that is the constant realisation that they have to compete in today’s global market. While it is true that a lot of businesses move overseas to countries like China for their cheap labour; resourceful countries find ways to take advantage of the new economic landscape by creating new markets and opening up to new opportunities.

In a country like Australia for example,  the steel mining industry was abandoned a decade ago. Due to the lack of demand, the industry suffered and most mining towns were deserted. But now it’s different; the mining industry is in boom again due to increased demand from China. More than half of the materials used in building China’s Auditorium for the 2008 Olympics are made from mineral- rich “dirt” from Australia. China’s construction industry will continue to grow till the next decade, maybe more,  and Australia is cashing in on that. With the increased interest and growing debate on nuclear energy, the mining industry (uranium) can foresee big opportunities. There is now a big demand for labour in the rebuilding of mining towns. The housing, hospitality and entertainment industries are benefiting from it too.

Another case is the wool industry. Wool producing towns suffered due to lack of demand for wool. Again, China’s cheap labour and the use of cheaper synthetic materials decreased the demand for Australian wool from lucrative fashion industry. Sheep farming towns resembled ghost towns as young people moved somewhere else for better employment. But now there are some dramatic changes. Researchers found that there is a big market for goat meat in the U.S. for the Mexican communities there. The wool producing towns are open for business again although now they are part of Australia’s lucrative meat industry, their sheep paddocks are now being used to raise goats. And it doesn’t end there, with the health risk surrounding pork and sheep consumption, i.e. high cholesterol content causing obesity, diabetes, and heart problems, the industry can see bright lights in promoting beef, goat  and kangaroo meat in Europe, Asia and Arab countries.

In cases like these where it is not possible to move the industry overseas, the only resort for them is to bring the labour force into the country.

There are so much rhetoric in the west about the plight of illegal immigrants and what to do with them, but unbeknown to ordinary folks, these immigrants are being used ( and abused) to help their economies. The United States for example have access to cheap labour from Mexico and other nationalities who risk their lives just to set foot in that country; illegal migrants’ labour is a billion dollar industry in the U.S. Rich European countries have access to cheap labour through the decendants of colonial Africa and Asia. They also have waves of illegal migrants from poorer southern European countries, Asia and africa. But Australia has none of that and does not have to resort to cheap labour to move on. 

Being an island continent, Australia successfully controlled the number of people entering the country. They can pick and choose whom they want to allow in, which is understandable as they want to maintain their high standard of living. But, in the 21st century, Australia realised that to be successfully favoured in the growing Asian market, they have to change their tune. Australia welcomed professional and skilled people, investors , brides, sponsored relatives to legally migrate but never opened its doors to contract workers until only very recently, just last year! Filipino workers were one of the nationalities they chose to come! That was just a trial and as far as I gathered through a reputable current affairs shows on television- “Sixty Minutes” and “A Current Affair”- their employers are very happy. “They are very hardworking, you can see the desire in their eyes; they just want the work;  I will have them anytime,” one of the employer enthused. I suspect that more and more job opportunities will be offered to Filipinos.

Already, there are calls in the media complaining that local labour will be disadvantaged as business owners given a choice will prefer cheap labour from other countries.  Politicians were quick to guarantee that contract workers will be given Australian minimum wages and they will not be subject to abuse. There are heated debates going on today whether opening the country to more contract workers is the way to go. The local labour movement are dead against it but big corporations like Mcdonalds expressed their desire to hire contract workers from the Philippines as opposed to hiring Australian teenagers who are supposed to be in college learning a trade or at universities.

There is no doubt that skills migration and opening the country to contract workers is the solution but to satisfy nationalistic concerns and queries both of the leading political parties came with a criteria as to what kind of people they should let in. The preferred factors are: skills and educational qualification, English language proficiency, ability to assimilate and acceptance of the Australian culture and values. Since Filipinos are known to have this desirable qualities, they should have no problem entering the country legally.   

This is a reflection of what is happening in the rest of the western world and  Non-English speaking developed countries. There is a labour shortage and they require skilled workers to keep going and compete. Labour exporting southern European countries like Italy, Greece and Spain hired Filipinas as domestic helpers decades ago while there where restrictive policies in western European destinations like Germany and France. Today, more and more Filipinos are hired in these countries with jobs not limited to domestic duties and with better workplace conditions. Thanks to the pioneers, Filipino nurses are in great demand in the US, and now Britain and Ireland too. I heard Filipinos are needed in Scandinavian countries too.

Filipinos, without a doubt, has a place in the global world. While people from poor countries have no choice but risk their lives in entering developed countries illegally, Filipinos are being offered jobs and are invited to enter countries legally. They have more choices of countries to go to and have access to different jobs. The only thing needed is for the Philippine government to do more in choosing the right countries, negotiate a fairer and secure deals for the overseas foreign workers (OFW) and actually do something to improve the process of training and hiring. The Philippine government should not send Filipinas to countries were women are treated like second class citizens, have no respect for individual rights and freedoms, or societies whose culture is very limiting.

Kuripot, Gastador, Tikalon, Damak, Maisug, Manug-Hiwit, Aswang

Philippine regionalism is one important factor to consider why Capicenos have been branded as aswangs, and in understanding why the myth has been perpetuated for over 100 years. Archipelagic Philippines has been populated by divided and competing tribes whose highest politico-economic achievement as a civilization have been the short-lived minor kingdoms in Pangasinan and Mindanao. Prior to Spanish colonialization, there was no sense of national identity, and much less appreciation about other ethic groups and cultures. The small, diverse and self-sufficient tribes have been scattered and isolated across thousands of islands. Having primitive maritime technology, they did not have active inter-island trade and much less opportunity for cultural exchange. It was only in the last 350 years, under the Spanish rule, that we evolved a concept of a nation. And even today, we are still struggling to accept it. Until the last century estrangjeros or pangayaos have been fiercely rejected by the tumandoks. Hence, whatever information we had about other regions could have just been trickles information. Bits and pieces of information are sewn together to make a derogatory collage of peoples of other regions.

Our diverse ethnicity is the foundation of our rigorous regionalism. We are a 7,000-island nation with over 100 ethnic groups. Overall, we are overwhelmingly Malayo-Polynesian under the broad Austronesian linguistic family. But underneath, we have more diverse ethnicity, subgroups, and sub-subgroups, hastily categorized into generic groupings of Ilocanos, Pangasinense, Kapampangan, Tagalog, Bicolano, Bisaya, Mindanao minorities, tribal groups, Chinese, Spanish, and Western and other minorities. Ilocanos are Ivatans and Ibanags, and their many variants; Pangasinense have the Cordilleranos (Igorots and their variants); Bisaya is classified under three main groups of Hiligaynon (Ilonggo), Cebuano and Waray. But under that, there are distinct sub-groups like the Aklanon, Karay-a, Romblomanon, Sibuyanon, Masbateno, Cuyonon. Each one of these has another layer of diverse ethnicity (e.g., Mambusaonon, Sapianon, Sijuiornon, etc.). Southern minorities include the Tausugs, Maranaos, Samals, Yakans, and the Lumads. The Lumads alone include the Manobos, Tasadays, Mamanwas, Mandayas, and Kalagans. And like our nomenclatures, they also have distinct diversity.

As indicated above, regionalism is not only a distinction due to geographic locale, rather, it is an ethnic divide highlighting cultural, social, economic and political differences - over 100 of it. In our attempt to make our region different from the others we highlight our dissimilarities. Such that, we never cease to find what is ridiculous in other cultures. We stockpile our arsenal of insults against them, so that, ultimately, we want them to be inferior to us. Sociologists point out that an individual ethnic group, united by a common language, invariably views the world from its own set of filters, experiences, beliefs, traditions, standards, biases and vantage points, a condition known as ethnocentrism. Ethnocentricism means judging other cultures as inferior based on your own culture’s superior cultural vantage point. Over time, an ethnocentrist world-view can hastily summarize a region into one common derogatory characterization. For instance, the Tagalogs have a crystallized world-view and common characterization of Bisaya as aswang, mangkukulam and katulong. The most degrading of which is aswang, and Capiz is said to have the worst concentration of aswangs.

Regional characterizations are not without bases, however. Ilocanos have been said to be frugal because their arid land does not allow large-scale cultivation of food and cash crops. Therefore, other regions dismiss them as kuripot. Tagalogs, living in the center of Philippine culture, politics and economy, having the first glimmer of electric lights and cooking gas, thought they are in the center of the universe. Anywhere outside their region had hitherto been a bundok. Hence, Americans going to the hinterlands was said to have gone to the boondocks. That literally landed into the English dictionary as a legitimate word - owing to the arrogant and ethnocentrict Tagalogs. The King of Spain gave generous encomiendas to conquestadores from northwestern Spain settling in Iloilo and Negros. In the heyday of sugar plantations, from the turn of the 20th Century to the roaring 60s, briefly disrupted by war but put to a final end by Marcos cronyism, sugar barons lived in Southern opulence and lavish lifestyles. The 3 percent Spanish sugars planter families, having their own sugar centrals, railways, piers, and shipping lines, have had every right to boast - guina pala, guina piko! But if the other 97 percent also brag, they are on their own. Hence, the Negrense and Ilonggos earned the tikalon moniker. Fierce resistance from attempts to Christianize the Mindanaonons earned them the savage, bloodthirsty reputation. Of course, regional attributions to Masbate, Siquijornons, and Samarenos as manug-hiwits could likewise be explainable. For instance, an MGB episode a few years ago featured an age-old modus operandi in one Samar hinterland about the locals secretly adding toxic herbal concoction into the beverage of strangers, only to be “healed” with an antidote for a fee. Although Bisayan and Tagalogs alphabets are almost exactly the same, our pronunciation did not highlight the different sound of paired vowels. Hence, enthocentrict Tagalogs’ criticisms against us. Remember the PLDT ad about a Bisayan katulong? “Sir, tumawag si GG.” for which the boss asked, “Si Gigi or si Jayjay?” The katulong answered, “Si GG, sir.” It would be a full time job to document all the insults, ridicules and mockeries that we hurl against each other.

But there have been tangible events that did earn a region an insulting reputation. If a province or one region was to be branded as aswang country, it should have been Samar-Leyte. There had been no single pre-Hispanic record about aswang anywhere in Philippine folktales and literature. Hence, the earliest written record about aswang in the whole 7,000 islands ever is by a Westerner, Miguel Lopez de Legazpi. On February 14, 1565, in Samar, he wrote about being warned by the natives about the existence of aswang and how terrified they had been listening to howling noise around his encampment one night. But Legazpi’s account did not come without motives or reason. He came from Medieval Europe, itself rife with burning accused witches at stake, predisposed to the Count Vlad story, and with a mission to introduce faith. This perfectly jibed with the situation of Samar tribe that, without an army, only hoped to drive away Spanish colonizers with horrific tales about aswang and by actually making terrifying nighttime noise around their encampment. The reason why this first aswang manuscript did not stick to Samar-Leyte region is probably because this account had not been reinforced by other socio-cultural factors in the region. Such that, Samarenos did not create and maintain an aswang out of themselves. We did.

In summary, regionalism is partly due to the absence of a sense of nationhood - each tiny ethnic group or tribe, isolated by mountains and seas, existed alone for centuries without contact with the others. When they finally have contact, their crystallized ethnocentrict world-views, predisposed Filipinos to ridicule and degrade people from other regions. Each region had been given a brand or moniker. It is unfortunate that Capiz had been branded as aswang. The continued Filipino regionalism, along with complex web of factors that we will discuss more, sustains our aswang brand. In order to minimize it, we need to respect and be sensitive to other regional cultures.

In the succeeding posts, we will examine the other factors and elements that created, strengthened and perpetuated the aswang brand to us.

Petropolitik, Sapian and China - Sixth in a Continuing Series

Another way to revisit the saga of Sapian, China and oil crisis is tracing the thread of Philippine petroleum deregulation. Fidel V. Ramos (FVR) pushed for the enactment of Republic Act 8180, the Downstream Oil Industry Deregulation Act of 1996, to promote a more competitive market and prices by allowing the entry of “small” oil players to the market monopolized by the so-called Big Three, namely, Pilipinas Shell Petroleum, Caltex Philippines Inc. and Petron Inc. This involves the removal of the government subsidy to oil prices, called the Oil Price Stabilization Fund, which provided a cushion to oil price increases. In 1999, a new oil deregulation law (RA 8479) was enacted to pave the way for the full deregulation of the oil industry.

During World War II, many countries heavily regulated industries and nationalized critical industries (e.g., petroleum, coal mines, steel mills etc.) to provide maximum support and efficient use of resources for war efforts. After the war, many countries continued or expanded controls on industries to rebuild their war-ravaged economies, and well into the 70s. By the 80s, U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher - plagued by paralyzing strikes, mismanagement, and bankruptcy - started to privatize government companies. In economic circles, it was called Thatcherism. In the U.S., President Ronald Reagan tried to relax government control on businesses, called Reaganomics. Both trends lean toward Keynesian economics. A very influential 20th Century economist, John Maynard Keynes theorized that government should use its power sparingly at the macro-economic level to regulate (e.g., interest rates, use of reserves etc.) but let the private sector and market forces try to equalize itself. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keynesian_economics

Along these lines U.S. President Bill Clinton, FVR and other leaders promoted a book by David Osborne and Ted Gaebler, entitled, Reinventing Government: How the Entrepreneurial Spirit is Transforming the Public Sector. The authors looked into model governments efficiently run like corporations, with performance-based budget, partnership with the private sector, and people empowerment themes. It called for leveling of the playing field, deregulation, decentralization, devolution, and liberalization, in all aspects of government, politics and the economy. From Washington, to Europe, to Tokyo, a chorus of international organizations told Cory and FVR to pursue these goals. Hence, it was institutionalized in FVR’s Philippines 2000. http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/npr/index.htm

Under this philosophy, started by Cory but staunchly implemented by FVR, the bureaucracy worked double time to deregulate, decentralize, and devolve powers of governance. Among the first tangible result of these is the Local Government Code
- to the perpetual chagrin of my mother and Nono Varon’s parents (it’s a relief they are all in the United States now!) - that included the devolution of the Department of Health’s Rural Health Units (RHUs) to local government units. There were persistent rumors that RHUs will be renationalized, but early on I asked former Health Secretary Juan Flavier (now, Senator) and he told me to tell my mother to change career because it’s not going to happen. In theory, local governments should have more control over their local affairs and would be able to prioritize their policies and fine-tune their programs according to local needs.

Another example is today’s proliferation of cell phones. PLDT monopoly was broken by giving away franchises to any company able to install 5,000 lines, can apply for telephone franchise anywhere in the Philippines. Many leapfrogged with infinite cell lines, so you now have a galaxy of cell service providers. This also was true with Cable TV providers and a host of other telecommunications sub-sectors. Philippine Airlines franchise monopoly was also broken. Now, passengers are no longer at the mercy of PAL. Anyone who has a plane, compliant with all BOT regulations, could apply for an air franchise anywhere in the Philippines. Then you have BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer, Build-Transfer-Operate, Build-Own-Operate etc.) alphabet schemes, which allowed building of dozens of giga-wattage power plants by Hopewell Holdings, Enron, etc. worth billions of dollars. The caveat, contracts for 50 years for guaranteed power purchase by the National Power Corporation. This wiped out the brown outs overnight, particularly when power grids throughout the country have been interconnected. Then, you have your Skyway, North Luzon Expressway, MRT and many others. Under the general theme, base lands, like the Fort Bonifacio area, have been opened to joint ventures with the private sector.

For a moment, the Philippines was referred to as one of the Tiger Cubs of Asia.

Petropolitik, Sapian and China - Eighth in a Continuing Series

First, there were faults in the assumptions. Proponents say downstream deregulation will make the economy stronger and better because it will, as it should, be left upon a free market to operate. Market is said to be a self-equalizing force; that all things being equal, profit interests and buyer interest will synthesize into general welfare.  So the theory goes. But opponents argue that since there is no upstream industry to guarantee a free play of supply and prices for downstream industries, deregulation has no net positive effect because downstream entrepreneurs are still dependent on Big Three for supply. Hence, there is no real competition. Proponents believed that as soon as deregulation is announced, oil companies around the world would race to our doorsteps. But our announcements, repeated announcements, have been met by a stony silence. The reason, some say, is that giant oil companies, with their rules of engagement and protocol, would not go after each other’s throat because, as traditional economics always say, genuine competition lowers prices; and lowered mark-up prices reduces profitability. By and large, they share not only the same security and political concerns, but also the same oil wells, pipelines, refineries, transshipment facilities, tankers, borrow each others’ jets, etc. Early on, critics warned that if there would be no new players the size of the Big Three, deregulation is doomed to fail. And there were none.

Another result of deregulation is the removal of Oil Price Stabilization Fund (OPSF). OPSF is an import levy instituted by Marcos and was approximately P1.25/liter in 1997. It was placed on reserve as safety net to fend ill effects of escalating gas prices. When there was sudden jolt in gas prices to soften impact to consumers, government either totally covered (subsidized) the difference in cost, or spread costs over a period of time (credit). Even at the months before deregulation, OPSF mechanism had been working very hard to stabilize unpredictable gas prices. OPSF was typically used for Forward Cost Cover (FCC) that absorbed for consumers the fluctuating price difference three months in advance. Former Energy Secretary Francisco Viray would always complain to the Cabinet how hard it was for OPSF to keep up with increasing world prices. For over three years, I was the energy “expert” on FVR Cabinet minutes. My supervisor, Director Jess Albar from a prominent Roxas City family, knowing my interests, invariably gave me all Cabinet items on energy, until the Cabinet no longer talked any OPSF or FCC.

On top of deregulation, privatization was another scourge to Philippine petroleum industry. Petron, a government petroleum company, was sold to Aramco. At that point, government had fully abdicated its last measure of influence on domestic oil prices.  Ownership of Petron had been good oil price leverage; profitability had been shoved aside in favor of national welfare. Petron saturated market with lower priced gas to upset upward pressure on gas prices. So, losing Petron ownership and having no OPSF safety net, and none of expected downstream competition, government is now left with the last front-end control. To tax or not to tax.

If we are already selling tax-free oil, and China would pay even more money for even more gas supply, we would be in big trouble. How many of us would be willing to pay P90/liter even if it’s tax-free?

Petropolitik, Sapian and China - Fourth in a Continuing Series

Cory and Ramos Cabinet deliberations on GATT/WTO involved many economic concepts that Ms. Flores laid the foundations for. GATT/WTO was discussed on my first attendance in a Cory Cabinet Meeting, and Jose Concepcion (JoeCon), former Trade and Industry Sectary in Cory Cabinet, owner of Condura, Cosmos Bottling, General Milling, etc., tripped on my right foot and almost crashed on former Defense Secretary Renato De Villa. I was terrified, my first Cabinet and I caused an accident. But people I sat next to assured me that it was not my fault - Lucille Peralta (now Ortille, and Director General of the Cabinet Coordinating Committee on Housing and Urban Planning), also from Roxas City, and Mary Ann Z. Fernandez (now Assistant Commissioner of Civil Service Commission) told me JoeCon was looking up on screen while briskly walking down the hall.  Corridor of power is always cramped, so seats around the Cabinet Meetings are always crowded. Seating was arranged in two rings - the inner circle which is the president and cabinet members, and the outer circle composed of lesser bishops and acolytes like myself. State Dining Room is cold and dark when giant Swarovski chandeliers are dimmed for PowerPoints. Only Imelda’s sconces would light the old rose velvet carpet while people seated on the outer circle would obstruct most steps of the way. Talk about cordon sanitaire.

Anyway, this was not the case in the brightly lit and well-appointed National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Board Room in Pasig, thanks to Toto “Tayho” Guijaro. The president and Cabinet also convene as Joint Cabinet-NEDA Board a few times a year to update the National Development Plan, and they meet in Pasig once in a while. In NEDA sa Pasig, I always see Toto Tayho because he does the electro-systems for NEDA Board Sub-Committee on Human Resources and NEDA Board/Cabinet that I both attend. I’m sure, Toto Tayho, bombarded by economics everyday, would remember the lectures of Ms. Flores. Our batch was the first to graduate under the nationalized high school. Unfortunately, it was the last batch Ms. Flores would teach. That very next school year, she moved to then Panay State Polytechnic College (PSPC). Lucky them.

Further exploration on China’s economic boom needs us to look into just a little bit of GATT and history. Ms. Flores taught us that Industrial Revolution, which started in Britain between late 1700s and early 1800s, was characterized by increased production due to mechanization (e.g., steam engines - factories and railways). Mechanization allowed mass production that created surplus products. Countries needed to sell surplus products to other countries (dumping). But other countries have the same industries and were creating the same products. So, each country tried to protect its domestic industries, and a period called Protectionist Era ensued. Nations established trade barriers, raised import taxes and tariffs, to make it very difficult to import and export outside of national boundaries. Trade wars ensued - dumping of surpluses to, or raising tariffs against unfriendly nations. Countries like Britain, U.S. and France (Allied) were lucky. Their colonies acted both as exclusive markets for their surpluses and source of cheap raw materials. Other industrializing countries like Japan, Italy and Germany (Axis) did not have colonies. Axis powers had to either have colonies or just fade away. Many summed up World War II as an attempt by Axis powers to re-divide the world and gain colonies for themselves. At that time, China was an agrarian economy trying to survive its own Cultural Revolution.

In 1944, GATT, a trade treaty involving many nations, was established. Its purpose was to facilitate free trade by encouraging member-nations to reduce tariffs and remove trade barriers. This would avoid trade wars and the need to maintain colonies (i.e., the Philippines was then allowed to become independent). Under GATT, each one had a list of sectors, industries or specific products they want to open to international competition. Taxes for those specified sectors or products are either lowered significantly or removed altogether. Since then, GATT worked on the sidelines until the emergence of European Community in the late ’80s. At that time, trade blocs, treaties involving many nations, in many regions of the world started to proliferate. By early 90s, there were APEC, Uruguayan Round, NAFTA, AFTA, BIMP/EAGA and dozens others. Trade blocs reminded some economists of Protectionist Era.

Therefore, GATT had to be reinvented. This time, it would have to include China. The world could not wait to sell 1.3 billion more bottles and cans of Coca-Cola and McDonald’s burgers.  And China itself, wary of being alone after the downfall of USSR and its Eastern European allies, and tempted by outward forces of its modernizing economy, had to jump into the bandwagon. Western companies, led by American investors, raced their way to China to manufacture everything from slippers to ICs. This proliferated the market with too much China products and created higher demands for petroleum.

Negative implications for Sapian: First, China has drawn in foreign investments that would have otherwise been invested in the Philippines that, directly, either employ some Sapianons, or benefit Sapianon businessmen, or indirectly, bring in money into the domestic economy and trickle down to Sapian in form of taxes or increased buying power/demand for Sapian fishery products. Second, flood the Philippine market with cheaper Chinese goods, competing with our local industries - especially with GATT - losing our fledging manufacturing businesses and jobs. Third, highly industrialized China makes it more influential in geopolitics to the detriment of our security, including losing our claim to the disputed, natural gas rich 200-mile EEZ off Palawan. Fourth, China is developing backbone industries like steel, chemicals, etc., is reckless with environment and could upset South Asian environmental health (e.g., nuclear waste, industrial dust, acid rain, etc.). Fifth and most importantly, China, consuming more oil, offsets supply equilibrium, creating shortage, increasing prices, and causing more instability in volatile Middle East (e.g., giving Saddam rockets, bribing Iran with $70 billion, and possibly, some bits of nuclear technology). Increased prices slow down the Philippine economy, as it pays more power bills, lower Peso value because more dollar is paid for oil imports, less tax collections because of lowered profits, less foreign investments because of less anticipation of profits, and so on.   

On the positive side for Sapian: First, abundance of made in China products, as said earlier, makes it easier for us to buy products that used to be difficult and expensive to acquire. Second, China would attempt to expand its political and economic clout among its neighbors and invest in the Philippines, such as in agro-industry. This should be our last opportunity to dove-tail on global trade. Third, since the continued affluence of China’s economy is dependent on its goodwill, it would not do much to offset South Asia security - although the 200-mile EEZ is now irretrievably lost.