Responding to the “supercrisis”
Experts have described the recession as a “supercrisis”, which could be long and deep. Its impact on poor and underdeveloped economies like the Philippines is just starting to unfold. Obviously, emergency employment through a stimulus package as well as labor flexibilization and export will not do the trick. A total overhaul of the economy’s orientation must now be started – shifting from an externally driven growth and job creation to a one driven by internal sources of economic expansion and employment.
This requires the creation of a medium- to long-term comprehensive development plan for local industries especially the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that will primarily cater to the domestic market. Indispensably, this means refocusing the decades-old colonial bias towards foreign goods, capital, and market to a nationalist bias for local investment and commodities. SMEs account for more than 60 percent of total employment in the country.
Deeply related to this is genuine and lasting agrarian development, which must be pursued with real land distribution to the tillers at its core. Schemes that will further dispossess the tillers of land must be abandoned such as extending the flawed Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) and 100 percent foreign ownership of land through Charter change (Cha-cha). The Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill (GARB) pending at the House of Representatives must be passed as it could set off the process for genuine and lasting agrarian development to take place.
A highly developed agricultural sector, instead of catering to First World markets like it has been doing since time immemorial, should supply the needs of local industries and form crucial linkages in the domestic economy. It must be noted as well that the agricultural sector directly and indirectly accounts for more than 70 percent of domestic employment.
Immediately, the government must desist from further opening up the domestic economy to foreign competition – an economic policy which for decades has pushed thousands of Filipino firms into bankruptcy and dislocated millions of Filipino workers, farmers, and farm workers. More liberalization of trade and investment through bilateral, regional, and multilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) and economic partnerships must be stopped.
Instead, a host of readily available and accessible support package such as tax breaks and exemptions and other privileges must be exclusively extended to Filipino SMEs and other local direct producers such as the farmers and their organizations. This will spur domestic production and consumption, invigorate the economy and create more jobs at home.
But these important reforms will not materialize without a movement of people clamoring for change. The raging crisis confronting the country and the rest of the world is providing fresh opportunities for progressive social movements to present alternative economic policy frameworks and programs that will challenge the current flawed paradigm of development.
Amid the economic gloom, there is reason to be hopeful. (Bulatlat.com)
