Restricting skilled labor migration is absurd!

SUMMARY: “Labor is just like capital in a free market place. Investors will take their money to where it will get the best return. Workers will take their skill to where it will get the greatest reward… Thus the proposal that government ought to ban or in any way restrict the migration of aviators and aircraft mechanics is simply absurd and ridiculous,” says former Senator Ernesto Herrera. Please read the entire post.

It’s nice to know former senator Ernesto Herrera has taken the cudgels for overseas Filipino workers who are likely to be hit by the proposed travel ban or moratorium on skilled Filipino workers. In the recent employment summit, the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration are contemplating of said measures supposedly in the name of “national interest” and “public welfare.” Senator Herrera calls these proposed policy “ridiculous” stressing that government “cannot effectively prevent Filipino pilots and aircraft maintenance engineers from leaving the country, should they decide to seek greener pastures abroad.”

Could the government restrict or control workers deployment overseas? The government thinks it could. Could the government prevent Henry Sy or Lucio Tan from bringing out their money for some investments in China or elsewhere in the name of national security or public welfare? Definitely not. What the government bureaucrats are contemplating therefore is simply another form of double standard. It’s unfair and unjust.

Would the migration of labor not kill the local companies that need these skills? Of course not.

ICTSI example
Take the case of the International Container Terminal Services, Inc (ICTSI), a Filipino global ports management company. ICTSI operates a lot of ports here in the Philippines and abroad, specifically international container terminals in Suape, Brazil; Port of Gdynia in Poland; Naha in Okinawa (Japan); and Madagascar. Because of ICTSI’s global reach and apparent success in port operations, it has taken the attention of “poachers” who are on the lookout for skilled workers particularly in areas of port management, operations, and administration; port development and construction; and port planning and programming.

Dubai World Ports, one of the largest port operators in the world based in the United Arab Emirates, practically knocks on the doors of ICTSI to pirate its employees. The numbers of employees being “raided” each year could sometimes reach 30, many of them highly skilled gantry crane operators. Captain Francis Andrews, ICTSI’s senior vice president and operations manager of the Manila International Container Terminal, says this “raiding” of ICTSI skilled staff each year gives them problems but it doesn’t disrupt their operations. This is because, he explained, its employees are multi-skilled; the company could easily redeploy them to other functions when the need arises. Also, the company keeps on training more people each year in anticipation of rising demand for skilled operators of port handling equipment worldwide. Besides continuous in-house training, ICTSI also provides productivity incentives for container handling equipment operators so that their employees get more money as their efficiencies improve. Families of these workers are also given attractive incentives including medical and dental benefits. Thus given the choice between working abroad and staying with the company, many of its staff would rather not leave for the added incentive of being with the family and being able to watch the kids grow.

A thousand ways to retain staff
There are a thousand and one ways to retain staff without resorting to coercive measures. The fear that only journalists will remain in this country if we open the floodgates to overseas jobs is understandable. The latest statistics say the current number mining engineers, geologists, and geodetic engineers would not be enough meet the demand for these skills in the next four years. The Dole blamed low labor supply on few tertiary schools offering said discipline and even fewer students who passed the board examinations. The reason for this trend is that in the last several decades, mining (prior to the Mining Act of 1995) were stagnant for lack of fresh investments. It’s only after the Supreme Court declared the constitutionality of the Mining Act that allows 100 foreign equity ownership (through the financial and technical assistance agreement) when the mining industry has started to hire more skilled professionals. Give it a few more years and soon smart kids will flock into this profession.

Filipino worker as No. 1
Ask Professor Eduardo Morato of the Asian Institute of Management about skilled labor migration and he will tell you that the real problem lies with local capitalists. Citing a recent survey by AIM in tandem with the Switzerland-based Institute of Management Development, Morato said Filipinos is Number 1 in the world in terms of skill and competence. Yet Morato complains that local business owners do not know how to motivate their employees. Their idea of a good employee is someone who works hard, is meek as a lamb, and gets slave wages. That’s the reason why headhunters and multinationals are always on the lookout for skilled Philippine professionals whom they could pirate. They know that if they could put in a better working environment, the Filipino professional would always excel and contribute a lot to the company.

Moral lesson? Local employers and the government should change their mindsets. They should stop looking at the skilled Filipino working class as “surplus” to be employed at the lowest price. They should start looking at the Filipino working class as an asset to the country, people whose skills are appreciated and valued for the good of the country.

Skilled Filipino workers of the world unite!

Government is thinking of employing coercive means to restrict OFW’s freedom to work abroad. Please read the rest of the post.

It seems the Government is really bent on restricting skilled overseas Filipino workers’ freedom to work abroad. Yesterday, Representative Roseller Barinaga (Second District, Zamboanga de Norte) suggested in an employment summit that government should employ coercive means like putting a “moratorium” or ban on the deployment of skilled workers pursuant to Republic Act 8042 in a bid to address “domestic labor shortages” in the mining and aviation industries during an employment summit last week. A few weeks ago, the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency has revealed government plans to restrict deployment of nurses and teachers.

My view is that it’s not in the best interest of the country to restrict people’s choices in life unless the country is experiencing a real crisis like war. Putting a moratorium on deployment of skilled workers violate the people’s right to travel, to seek employment, and pursue his or her own happiness. In this day and age, government and industry managers should stop thinking as if workers are slaves whose work, lives, and souls they control. People have choices and the State or business leaders should learn to respect that fact. After all, real development is really all about expanding people’s choices.

Restricting people’s job choices is not an effective way to produce more skilled workers for both the airline and the mining industries. That approach will only drive skilled workers away to foreign shores. The best way to keep skilled people here in the country is for the local industry to apply economic incentives, including better employment package. You want their skills? You treat them with respect by giving them better pay!

Allowing the free interaction of labor supply and demand is the better way to develop more skilled workers. Allowing local wages to rise in important skills will encourage a lot of smart kids from all over the country to take up these professions. Coupled with private sector initiatives like the setting up centers of excellence in certain skills like airline maintenance, geodetic, and mining engineering, nursing, and education, the Philippines could actually emerge as major supplier of these skills all over the world while satisfying our own local requirements. All we need to do is shift our mindset away from destructive protectionism that has been hobbling the country’s capability for economic development.

Airline or mining companies will probably say that they can’t match what is offered abroad. That’s baloney. Last Friday, Professor Eduardo Morato from the Asian Institute of Management has disclosed that local airlines are now sending their planes for servicing and maintenance to companies abroad that are manned by Filipinos mechanics and engineers. Morato said local airlines could have saved a lot more by keeping those Filipino airplane mechanics by paying them comparable salaries back home. Skilled mechanics, Morato said, leave the country because local airlines are not good at managing their workers and treating them with respect.

The coercive measure the government is contemplating vis-à-vis the mining and the airline industry should alarm the Filipino working class in this country. Once in place, the same coercive measure could extend to other industries until most Filipinos are no longer free to choose their place of work. Besides, mining and aviation, the government has also been contemplating about restricting overseas placement of teachers and nurses. Whom are they going to go after next?

The world is fast globalizing and countries in the Asia-Pacific Region are growing at dizzying speeds. These countries are going to need lots of skilled workers from the Philippines. It’s obvious that the State and its cronies are going to ban the deployment of accountants, crane operators, bank managers, MBA graduates, lawyers, surveyors, civil engineers, information technology experts, human resource managers, among many others soon. The State will restrict their deployment until one day Filipinos will wake up knowing they could not longer leave the country because some bureaucrats and political cronies thought their quasi-slavery is necessary for “national security” and “public welfare.”

These coercive measures will only hurt Filipinos even more as people who have skills may resort to illegal means to go around the labor export ban or moratorium. The difficulties to seek employment abroad may also force skilled workers who are already abroad not to return home for fear of not being able to get back to their overseas jobs. That also could mean they are going to keep their dollars abroad so they have something for themselves once they retire in foreign shores. This will certainly have devastating impact of the local economy. Restrictions on job mobility would also mean lack of market signals for the skills that the country needs, thus perpetuating the current trend of so many people with college degrees who could not find work because of job-skills mismatch.

Related posts

Government contemplates restrictions on overseas deployment of workers from "critical industries"

Don’t blame the nurses for the “medical crisis”

Terrorists as heroes

"People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people," says V (played by Hugo Weaving) in the film "V for Vendetta" (Warner Brothers), apparently paraphrasing political philoshoper John Locke. More so if such government has wronged the likes of V who is lethal with both the blade and the bomb.

Please see my full review of the film V for Vendetta in Without Borders: Films and Books.

SOS Blogger.com: Something funny is happening to my blog site

Have you seen that fish box below my blogger logo? Yes, I'm now a member of the Bluefish Network. I should be happier by now since being a member of the Bluefish means I'm able to reach a wider audience and be with the company of erudite and interesting bloggers. But I am not. My blog site, powered by blogger.com, doesnt seem to connect with the bluefish. The feed is there but it doesnt get through that's why readers couldn't see my post updates at the Bluefishnetwork portal. I tried feedburner and validate the feeds but it doesnt work either. What's happening here, Blogger.com? I need your help!

Outsourcing is great but the farms and factories still matter

It seems like the services sector alone couldn’t yet lick poverty and joblessness in the Philippines, contrary to the assumptions of a service-sector driven growth strategy being peddled by economists from the academe. Producing more graduates with smooth American accents is cool but not enough. Please read the rest of the post.

They are there—those glamorous workers in business process outsourcing including call centers and medical transcription, information industry-enabled services and telecommunications who are transforming the urban landscape of Metro Manila and the secondary urban centers of Cebu, and Davao City. And yet, they hardly make their presence felt in the latest labor force survey.

Supposedly, these jobs that mushroomed in the last five years, are part of the “transport, storage and communication” component of the survey. In the January 2006 labor force survey, workers under this category numbered 2.547 million, indicating an incremental 21,000 jobs from its January 2005 figure of 2.526 million. That’s a significant figure but it hardly changed the whole picture of rising joblessness in the country. Joblessness—which under the new definition refers to those people 15 years of age without work, currently available for work, seeking work or nor seeking work for some valid reasons—rose to 8.1 percent from 7.4 percent in October 2005. That percentage translates to 2.84 million Filipinos unproductive Filipinos.

Why this minimal contribution? First, we suspect the survey doesn’t capture yet extent of the employment in the ICT, but that’s a wild guess given the fact that we don’t have access to the sampling design as of this writing. Second, and most probably, employment in outsourcing, information technology-enabled services are still in its embryonic stage to make a difference in the labor force picture. And third, the high rates of job creation in the said industries are whittled down also by high turnover rates particularly in high pressure jobs like customer care services.

Services sector in general did a good job of generating a lot of work opportunities. Overall, the sector produced 373,000 incremental jobs, contributed mainly by transportation, storage and communications; education; hotels and restaurants; real estate, renting; and private households with employed persons.

Surprise, surprise!—private households actually accounted for a hundred thousand of the total service sector incremental jobs. That’s a lot of house maids being hired by urban dwellers. Why? The reason is reflected in higher underemployment this survey: 6.9 million workers as against 5.1 million in January last year. Take note that 4.2 million out of the 6.9 million are part-time workers. That means that—due to the rising cost of living (i.e. higher transport fare, high inflation rate, higher utility rates)—more people are hiring house maids so they would have time to seek for full-time or more productive work that should cover for their lost purchasing power as a result of high inflation rates.

The labor force survey say the entire economy has produced 750,000 incremental jobs. The bulk really of that figure comes from the farm sector that produced 475 incremental jobs. That’s because of the mild La Niña phenomenon that produced more rains. Farmers are simply taking advantage of the good soil moisture to plant their third crop. They were busy preparing the land and planting rice and other crops when the enumerators from the National Statistics Office came. That explains the higher job figure from the farms. But these jobs are seasonal.

Why the rise in unemployment despite the increase in the absolute number of jobs? It’s primarily because of the loss of 95,000 jobs from the industry sector, coming particularly from manufacturing and construction. The average capacity utilization of the manufacturing firms has stayed close to 80 percent so the sector is not in bad shape. The loss of these jobs could probably be attributed to the continuing downsizing and computerization to improve efficiency as managers respond to the competitive pressures of globalization.

There are moral lessons from this labor force survey. First, the services sector alone couldn’t yet lick poverty and joblessness in this country, contrary to the assumptions of a service-sector driven growth strategy being advocated by economists from the academe. Producing more graduates with smooth American accents for our outsourcing companies is very important but not enough. Second, the Promise Land for Filipinos still hinge on broad-based growth. Agriculture and industry will have to continue an important role. That means government will still have to invest more in strategic economic infrastructure and capabilities including strategic roads, bridges, research and development.

American Chamber of Commerce expresses “faith in the Philippines"

APCAC MEETS IN MANILA. The American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, Inc. recently hosted the Asia-Pacific Council of American Chambers of Commerce (APCAC) 2006 meeting at the Makati Shangri-la Hotel.

Led by APCAC Chairman George Drysdale, Jr. (seated at the center), APCAC delegates discussed key policy issues to prepare for the June Washington Doorknock, APCAC’s annual meeting with US Government Leaders. Shown also in photo are the APCAC executive directors from L-R (Seating): Patricia Warman, Indonesia; Bo Kim and Tami Overby, Korea; Brenda Foster, China-Shanghai; Christy Chen, China-Tianjin; Judy Benn, Thailand; and Eloise Baza, Guam; (Standing) Tim Shaver, China-Guandong; Richard Vuylsteke, Taiwan; James Pogue, Okinawa, Japan; Charles Martin, China-Beijing; Donald Westmore, Japan; Robert Sears, Philippines; Ramesh Bajpai, India; Mike Hearn, New Zealand; Dominic Lavigne, Malaysia; Nicholas De Boursac, Singapore; A. Gafur, Bangladesh; Jack Maisano, Hong Kong; and Herb Cochran, Vietnam.

APCAC represents the interests of over 10,000 business entities in 26 countries of the region with $300 billion in investments.

Robert Sears, Amcham Philippines executive director say Proclamation 1017 (State of Emergency) did not scare off American investors in the Philippines. In fact, told me that they never doubted that democracy was in danger during the week-long state of emergency. The recent APCAC meeting is proof of that, he said.

“We have great faith in the Philippines,” he said. “Investors here, the people here, understand that there’s a lot of noise, there’s a lot of rhetorics and you have to cut through the chaff to see what’s really there.” And despite that week-long political drama, he believes the Philippines still has a “fantastic potential” in several niches like information and communications technology, outsourcing, call centers. But Sears, however, say that the Philippines do have a lot of catching up to do especially in infrastructure development so it could attract more investments that is now lining up for a few countries like China and India.

Cruel media

Manila Times’ March 14, 2006 banner story as shown above is perfectly grammatical but the veterans of this journalism game know that it's an old senseless, sexist, tasteless “joke” among headline writers at the expense of the subject—no less than former social welfare secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman. The Manila Times story is about a certain Jaime Fuentes, supposedly a former member of the Communist Party of the Philippines, who claims he witnessed Soliman meeting with the leaders of the CPP and the “Black and White Movement,” supposedly a “center-right” coalition of anti-Arroyo forces. Cruel media? It’s your call. But if I’m the editor, I would rather say “hooded ex-NPA tags Soliman.” Or something like that.

(By the way, you may want to see my notes on Brokeback Mountain and V for Vendetta at Without Borders: Films and Books).

Americans went against their better selves to block the DP World Deal

American politicians went against the advice of their own thinking classes when they scuttled the DP Word deal. All along the conservative think tanks like the Heritage Foundation have stressing the UAE, or DP World for that matter, is not a threat to American society. Stresses James Jay Carafano, Ph.D, the foundation’s senior research fellow:

The UAE government is not a state-sponsor of terrorism, nor has any evidence been presented that Dubai Ports World has ever facilitated terrorist activities. In addition, Dubai Ports World is a holding company, and would have little to do with the day-to-day management of U.S. port facilities. Its ownership alone does not entitle its employees to access classified or sensitive security information, unless, as now, they meet the requirements of ISPS and U.S. law. Moreover, almost all of the employees at these facilities are U.S. citizens. Additionally, with over $6 billion invested, no company would want to see its facilities used by terrorists. Finally, terrorist tradecraft does not involve high-profile purchases of companies. Terrorism infiltration, like criminal smuggling, involves penetration by individuals, often at very low levels. That is a challenge for any company.

Daniel Ikenson, trade policy analyst of the Cato Institute castigates politicians who blocked the deal, specifically Democratic senator (New York) Charles Schumer, as being ignorant of the real issues. Said Ikenson:

To speak from a position of authority without understanding port security operations is reckless and misleading. Such demagoguery is worthy of stern rebuke, particularly considering the potential collateral damage caused by the hysteria.

Ikenson laments that the failed deal may have dealt a serious blow to America’s fight against terror. He said:

The Bush Administration's Middle East policy, which some argue has been an utter failure, consists of carrots to complement the more familiar sticks. The carrots include access to the U.S. market through bilateral free trade agreements. The United States has agreements with Jordan, Morocco, Bahrain, and Oman, and is in the process of completing a deal with the UAE. None of the Arab free trade agreement partners participates in the Arab boycott of Israel. Bahrain turned its back on the boycott right after signing the agreement. The UAE would likely follow suit….Encouraging moderate Arab states to remain moderate and to embrace capitalism and other western institutions is the quiet success of the administration's Middle East policy. It is also threatened by reflexive political opportunism that is driving the furor over the port deal.

Poison from the failed DP World Ports deal

In the Philippines, oligarchs might just cite “national security” to derail reforms to remove monopolies in shipping and port operations, telecommunications, transport, banking. These monopolies, experts have been saying are among the major reasons why the Philippines could not take off and join the fast-growing economies of the Asia-Pacific Region. Please read the entire post.

The Americans have invented a new term for protectionism. It’s called “national security.” By the term “Americans” I don’t mean those nice families (in Washington DC, Florida, and Nebraska) during my visit there late last year under the US State Department’s International Visitors Program. What I’m referring to are the politicians from both the Republican and Democratic parties who pressured DP World to withdraw its offer to buy a British firm Penisular and Oriental Navigation Co, a $6.8 billion deal that would enable the Arab firm to operate five major American ports including those in New York City, Baltimore, and Miami. Americans politicians fear that Al Qaeda may worm through Dubai World’s Port, a state-owned business organization based in the United Arab Emirates, and eventually cause damage to American lives, property, and economy.

Danny Griswold, executive director of Cato Institute’s Center for Trade Policy Studies (CTPS) dismissed politician’s objections to the port deal as plain demagoguery:

“…Dubai Ports World would not be in charge of security at the U.S. port facilities it would be managing. That responsibility remains firmly in the hands of the U.S. Coast Guard and the Customs and Border Protection Agency….The demagoguery surrounding this issue has the potential to do serious damage to our efforts to build alliances with moderate regimes in the Middle East. The United Arab Emirates has cooperated with the United States in our war on terrorism. Its capital of Dubai has become an important hub for commerce and free enterprise in the region. We are currently negotiating a free trade agreement with the UAE. What sort of signal does it send to moderates in the Middle East who are seeking to engage in the global economy if we reject their investment in the United States simply because they are Arabs?”

Viewed from the Philippines, that failed business deal could look like plain double standards. I hope it’s not racism. But what I’m concerned really is the poison that the scuttled deal may have put on the ongoing efforts to free up international trade and investments.

For so many decades, experts and investors from the West have been telling us here in the developing world that “free trade” is a positive sum game—that everybody benefits from the rising tide of commerce. We have been responding to that message by dismantling a lot of our trade and investment barriers. Now that developing countries are returning the favor, capitalism has become a threat to national security.

Unwittingly, American politicians are teaching the rest of the world how to go about protecting special or vested interests that are blocking progress in much of the developing world.

Countries are currently trying to conclude the Doha Round of trade negotiations under the World Trade Organization. Now, Fortress Europe could now cite “national security” to block exports from developing countries.

In the Philippines, oligarchs might just cite “national security” to derail reforms to remove monopolies in shipping and port operations, telecommunications, transport, banking—one of the major reasons why the Philippines could not take off and join the fast-growing economies of the Asia-Pacific Region.

(Note: Please visit Without Borders: Films and Books for my new blog on, what else?, films and books. Thanks.)

Friendships without borders: a message from Ramya

I love Friday because it’s my day off and I don’t have to think about what’s happening in this world. I fact, I don't have to use my neurons at all. Friday is really about escape from the salt mines, a time for the family, the books, and movies. Sometimes, we really just hang out at Powerbooks Alabang for hours browsing possible good book buys. This morning though I got an email from a friend from India, Ramya Janakiraman (www.musingmoments.blogspot.com), an editor for a corporate publishing firm in Chennai who assured me she is fine and was not affected by the recent spate of bombings in her country. That email further gave me another reason to be happy about the weekend. But her message also makes me sad.

“I am fine, am in Mumbai, that happened in Varnasi, which is in another state,” said Ramya. “That is the religious pinnacle of Hinduism. That explains the bombings...I can only sigh at this sad state of affairs with no religious tolerance...Regards, Ramya."

Indeed, religious intolerance is increasingly becoming a scourge of this world, especially after 9/11. I wonder how accurate is Samuel Huntington's theory of the “clash of civilizations.” Is this the same reason why John Lennon wrote “Imagine” in 1971? Let me share the lyrics with you as we try to “enjoy” the weekend.

Imagine there's no heaven,
it's easy if you try,
no hell below us,
above us only sky.
Imagine all the people,
living for today yu-huh.
Imagine there's no countries,
it isn't hard to do,
nothing to kill or die for,
and no religion too.
Imagine all the people,
living life in peace yu-huh.
You may say I'm a dreamer
but I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us,
and the world will be as one.
Imagine no possesions,
I wonder if you can,
no need for greed or hunger,
a brotherhood of man.
Imagine all the people,
sharing all the world yu-huh.
You may say I'm a dreamer ...
karma

Will blogs transform Philippine media?

Blogs have become so ubiquitous that it has captured the attention of mainstream media. Journalists and major news organizations are joining the bandwagon seeing the blog’s potential to reach a wider, more responsive audience. “Because access to the Internet is growing, blogs are potentially going to be a major source of information in the Philippines. Globally, especially in developed countries, it’s already a major source of information,” observes Professor Luis Teodoro (www.luisteodoro.com) of the University of the Philippines.

Last year, blogs started to make a mark in the Philippine politics. Dubbed as the year of Filipino blogs, 2005 saw the emergence of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism’s (PCIJ) blog which was instrumental in the exposure of the ‘Gloriagate’ scandal. Full recordings of the Hello Garci tapes along with supporting documents were made available from the site (http://www.pcij.org/blog). Shortly after, Sun Star Chronicles came up with its Citizen Watch blog (http://sunstar.com.ph/blogs/citizenwatch) which encouraged readers to post articles rather than just comments following the developments involving President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s administration.

Politically, blogs could also be a forum to tackle important issues ignored by mainstream media. Lately, Philippine Commentary (www.philippinecommentary.blogspot.com) is getting a lot of attention for his well-thought out commentaries on the issues related to the Danish cartoons that inflamed the Muslim world. While, the mainstream media stood silent on the issue probably for fear of a violent backlash, Bocobo expressed support for Flemming Rose, the editor of the Jyllands-Posten, who published the 12 cartoons, and attacked the Philippine Daily Inquirer for its supposed advocacy of the “separation of the Church and Press.”

Bocobo in his February 19 post ruminates: “When a taboo on idolatry produces a far more virulent and violent reaction over Danish cartoons than the Bali Bombings, or Zarqawi’s wedding blood feasts in Jordan, it would seem they [mainstream media] could do with a little quiet reflection and criticism from journalists. Not fear and appeasement alone though, are what motivate the religious editors of PDI. It is a desire to protect the rights of DOMINANT religions in LOCAL habitats. The members of the Roman Catholic upper crust in the Philippines who basically control media and education, are sensitive and respectful and understanding towards the Islamist rage over the cartoons because both are protecting the current practices of religions (Islam and Roman Catholicism) that were imperial theocracies but today must bow to common Democracy, which demotes Religion from the status of wielding state power to that of "mere" form of free speech and expression. I have advanced the theory that what we have here is the "intolerant urging tolerance for other intolerants.”

Straddling print and broadcast?
“Blogs have the advantage of both print and broadcasting,” says Teodoro. If done properly, it can be speedy but not sacrifice accuracy. However, the former UP College of Mass Communication Dean laments the fact that the blogosphere, like most Internet- based mediums, has no set standards. What I don’t like about it is that there’s no way of self regulation. There’s no authority that tries to establish standards,” he says. Thus, information from blogs can be suspect. He stresses that while bloggers can be journalists and vice versa, both still have to adhere to the standards of journalism if blogs are to be vehicles of empowerment and contribute to healthy debate.

Whether or not blogs will ultimately bridge the gap between traditional news media and its audience remains to be seen. But the fact remains that Filipinos are getting into it with gusto. “You make something easy enough and people will flock,” says Chris (www.cianoy.blogspot.com), a confessed techie and writer.

The tension between public and private will continue to rage as technology churns out new forms of communication. Perhaps, for most Filipinos, the following post by Mindovervaginawonam sums up their blogging experience: “I am a writer at heart, a writer with an exhibitionist streak and hopefully not the other way around. I don’t come in search of friends or lovers or enemies. Everything here is carved to point towards things universal, where I am nothing but a speck of dust in. Writing is reaching out enough; comment boxes are the only things open.”

Blogging spawns “culture of self-disclosure”

Try opening the www.mindovervagina.blogspot.com, scroll a few pages down to her January 22, 2006 blog post and you will see a pretty woman, her nipple protruding through the slit of the cup of her black brassiere. She asks, “Tell me why I hate Mondays?”

Click on the comments box below the post and you will see reactions from readers: “Because of your bra ripped,” said an anonymous comment. “Hmmm... this is my first time to read a Pinay blog of this type. C'est intéressant!,” said another anonymous reader. “It’s a day after Sunday, when one is forced to return to the weekly routine after a weekend of deserved rest or fun or sexual romp...,” said another.

If you are one of those who spend a lot of time online, reading these very personal, sometimes racy journals called ‘blogs’ and posting ones yourself, you are one of the growing millions of people out there who are hooked on blogging.

Academics call it mediated exhibitionism. Others call it empowerment and freedom of speech. Still others simply call it entertainment.

Media since the late 90s have been characterized by the continuous blurring of the boundaries between public and private. In television, this was evident in the popularity of talk shows and reality TV. What was deemed scandalous or inappropriate a decade before is now accepted and even expected in the name of free speech. This ‘culture of self-disclosure’ is especially showing up on the Internet.

“On personal home pages and message boards, in chat rooms and on listservs, and most especially in blogs, people are sharing unprecedented amounts of personal information with total strangers, potentially millions of them,” says North Carolina State University researchers Carolyn Miller and Dawn Shepherd (http://blog.lib.umn.edu/blogosphere).

Exhibitionist’s world
Most blogs discuss personal experiences. According to The Cath, a US-based Filipina blogger, in her blog “Now What, Cat?” (http://cathcath.com/?page_id=1206), majority (76 percent) of the Philippine based blogs belonging to the Top 100 Blogs ranked by Technorati, an internet search engine for blogs, belong to this category. Whether it’s the illusion of anonymity afforded by Cyberspace or simply the need to be heard, most bloggers don’t have qualms about publishing their very private thoughts online.

“Blogging has given the ‘average people’ the ability to communicate and publish their work, without having to face publishers and editors,” said Melissa Atienza-Petri (www.pinayexpat.com), a Filipina expatriate working as mathematical analyst for a high tech firm in Germany. “That means that more and more people are given the chance to express themselves, even anonymously. The internet in general makes a big difference, especially to those who have never been exposed to other cultures. One could broaden one's horizons without having to line up for a visa.”

“Oh yes, I also exhibit myself, not new. I’ve crossed my exhibitionist barrier in Yahoo Messenger where I strip for lots of random people. Lately, I’ve penetrated Pinoys and Pinays like me who are also offering whatever it is I’m offering, and have actually encountered someone I know. Should I be open with my life or is that living dangerously? Now that I have a community? Pinoys aren’t Pinoys unless they reach out in a personal way with their hearths and hearts,” says Mindovervaginawoman in her February 18 2006 post.

“You blog because you want people to read what you post. Otherwise, why blog at all?” says Vlad, an avid blogger who maintains several sites including www.awbholdings.com/blog for his thoughts on technology and politics. Like the rest of the world, Filipinos are flocking towards blogs as a new way of expressing themselves and connecting with other people.

Some do it to clarify what they want to do with their lives. Roseraven11 (www.roseraven11.blogspot.com), for instance, writes about her day-to-day experiences, viewpoints, and her ‘quarter-life crisis’: “A couple of months after I started working, I was asking myself whether or not I’m happy with where I am right now – if I took the right degree, if I liked my job and if I can see myself doing it until I retire..It [blogging] helped me know more about myself and explore new horizons. I tend to dwell on my ideas when I write so they become more concrete.”

Voyeur’s delight
When asked what was so appealing about reading other people’s blogs, Egai, a Filipino expat in Korea laughingly points out that people are naturally nosy. “People are generally voyeuristic and tsismoso [gossips]—I think it’s the drive for knowledge.”

For other OFWs, blogs are a more convenient and less expensive way to update friends and family back home. “I blog when I have good news or if I want to share some pictures—things I normally want my friends to know right away. It’s a hassle to call them one by one, especially those who are there in the Philippines, so I blog them instead,” says Osang (www.kaseladang.blogspot.com), a Filipina expatriate working in Dubai. (Written with Debbie Pepit0. Next post: will blogs transform Philippine media?)

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Foreign ownership restrictions constrain ICT growth in developing countries

Poor countries including the Philippines continue to lag behind the developed world in making information and communication technology applications commonplace in government, schools, and business despite global progress in improving peoples’ access to ICTs, the World Bank said yesterday.

In its recent report entitled Information and Communications for Development 2006: Global Trends and Policies, the World Bank (WB) noted that while developing countries have considerably increased ICT access particularly for telephone services in the past 25 years, there remain considerable barriers to investments like foreign ownership restrictions, thus preventing them from maximizing the economic benefits offered by ICT.

“In 1980, developing countries accounted for only 20 percent of the world's telephone lines. In 2005, 60 percent of the world's phones were in developing countries. Such expansion has been driven by the technological revolution of mobile telephony as well as private competition,” said the WB Report.

The WB report, however, has noted that these gains in ICT have largely benefited a limited number of people.

“Although progress has been made reaching out rural areas and the urban poor, in many countries, these groups still lag behind,” said the WB report. “And the advanced information and communication services available through the Internet initially reach mainly better off groups.”

In the Philippines, the WB said 194 people per 1000 have access to telephone lines and 248 people for every thousand are mobile subscribers. There are also 13.4 persons for every 1000 persons who have access to broadband or high speed internet, yet there are observations that these ICT facilities are largely concentrated in major urban centers like Metro Manila, Calabarzon, Cebu, Davao, and other secondary cities.

“While the developing world has seen huge progress in rollout of basic ICT infrastructure, the picture is more mixed for advanced use of ICT,” said the WB Report. “Worldwide, Internet use more than quadrupled between 2000 and 2005, but differences in the number of secure Internet servers, a proxy for the availability of e-commerce, remain stark. While developed nations have more than 300 such servers per 1 million people, developing nations have fewer than 2.”

Extending the reach of ICT to the broader segments of the population, the WB report argues, could boost economic growth and address poverty in developing countries by creating more growth opportunities for the private sector. Citing it’s survey of 56 developing countries including the Philippines, the report observes that “firms that use ICT grow faster, invest more, and are more productive and profitable than those that do not.”

The first step to boost the growth of the ICT sector and take advantages of this economic benefit, the WB Report said, is to allow the markets to work complemented by regulatory measures such as open entry, cost-based pricing, access to infrastructure and access to radio spectrum.

“Competitive, private-led markets go a long way toward making communication and information services available to the entire population,” the WB report said.

Worse than Proclamation 1017: government contemplates restricting overseas deployment of workers from "critical industries"

After curtailing our basic rights of peaceful assembly, freedom of expression, and freedom of the press under Proclamation 1017, the Arroyo Administration is again contemplating about curving the people’s other basic rights including our rights to travel, to find gainful employment, and pursue our own happiness. For amidst the hysteria generated by the “State of Emergency,” no less than the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration—the agency tasked to look after the interest of overseas Filipino Workers—has announced On March 2 that the government is formulating a strategy of “determining critical skills” or an inventory of industries that are losing skilled labor because of overseas deployment. This is a terrible irony because overseas workers are supposedly the "new heroes" in this country.

Under this strategy, the government will determine local demand and supply and will “compel” a worker with an application for an overseas employment to submit a six-month notice to the employer before the POEA would process the applicant’s papers. The idea is that workers falling under critical skills should be "kept domestically" before they leave for abroad to allow the local market to make up for their loss. As reported by our reporter Cher Jimenez, the inventory will initially focus on aviation, nursing, and the teaching professions.

This proposed policy is alarming. Consider this: Supposing you are a nurse working long hours in a hospital earning P6,000 monthly. You want to send your kids to good schools so they won’t inherit your quasi-slavery and poverty. What are the options? Ask for a raise? Forget it. Work for outsourcing firms like call centers or medical transcription where you get P16,000 a month? Possible. Or work as a nurse in Europe where the pay is even higher? Why not?

Supposing you got an opportunity to work abroad and your would-be employers are asking you to report within three months otherwise they will hire someone else from Indonesia or India. You started processing the papers only to be told by a bureaucrat from POEA that you can’t leave within six months. There goes your dream of a better life for your family! Good opportunity knocks only once and some government functionary blew it. Of course, there would be thousands and thousands more whose dreams will be shattered because some government bureaucrats thought the industries they are slaving for are “critical.”

This proposed policy is counterproductive and should never be implemented.

For one, such restrictions will just become a means by which bureaucrats in government agencies dealing with overseas employment could extort bribes from labor migrants. They know that OFWs are desperate; the new deployment restrictions will only make them more desperate enough to cough up bribes. If they couldn’t pay their way out, OFWs might just leave through illegal means, thus making them vulnerable to abuse in foreign shores. Others—for lack of bribe money or out of fear of suffering the fates of undocumented migrant workers—might just leave nursing profession just the same out of frustration, and opt for a stint at medical transcription firms or call centers where the pays are double.

But what about the industries that will be affected once the workers left for foreign shores? Surely this is a valid concern but putting restrictions on people’s work mobility is the wrong way to go. This is because governments are lousy at determining labor supply and demand. Government bureaucrats could conduct an inventory of labor requirements at the industry level but such information is never adequate to represent the dynamics of labor supply and demand.

The best example of this is nursing. Every body, particularly owners of hospitals, now seems to believe that the country is experiencing a shortage in the supply of nurses. It turned that, based on POEA data, supply of nurses is 120 percent more than demand. The problem really is in the supply of nurses possessing specialized skills like those in intensive care units and operating rooms. The solution, therefore, is not restricting workers' mobility and choices; it’s is in providing adequate in-house training and better compensation. The hospitals could actually keep their staff by providing career paths for them.

The idea that “critical workers” should be "kept domestically" before they leave “to allow the local market to make up for their loss” is preposterous. In truth, such measures will only provide more distortions in the labor market, the reason why more workers are leaving in the first place. Instead, the best way to ensure adequate supply of skilled workers in certain industries is to allow the labor market to work. The government could only compliment this process through continuous workers training. Better yet, industries like aviation might as well provide in-house training and raise their staff’s pay commensurate to their skills acquired.

It’s not true that all skilled workers will leave our shores once you allow them all to leave anytime they want. In reality, higher demand for certain skills like nursing and airline pilots triggers higher incomes for these skills, assuming the government doesn’t intervene artificially. This situation in turn encourages more people to take these professions, thus raising supply of these skills. Based on empirical studies, most of these fresh graduates with skills are not going to leave for foreign shores because of several factors like improvement in local pay as competition for these skills abroad forces local employers to offer better employment packages; friction of distance, including difficulties of getting visas; and cultural factors like emotional attachment to families and love. In the end, it’s a win-win situation for the skilled worker and society as a whole.

Restrictions being contemplated by POEA violate Section 6 of the Bill of Rights. The law says “The liberty of abode and of changing the same within the limits prescribed by law shall not be impaired except upon lawful order of the court. Neither shall the right to travel be impaired except in the interest of national security, public safety, or public health,…” In this globalized world, opportunities worldwide come and go; it’s immoral therefore for governments to put limits on people’s chances for a better life wherever on earth those good prospects are, especially if such governments could not provide decent work opportunities at home for their own citizens.

POEA’s proposal betrays a lack of understanding of development. For what is “development” but the expansion of people’s choices in life? In history, only authoritarian and communist countries are resorting to drastic measures such as putting limits on people’s mobility and job options. China in fact has abandoned such policies decades ago after Chairman Deng Xiaoping learned that “to get rich is glorious.” Why should the Philippines, a country that pretends to be democratic, even think about it?

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Chamber of mines refutes Bishops' pastoral statement on mining

For the stakeholders of the country’s mining industry, the call of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) for the repeal of the Mining Act and the closure of all large-scale mining operations throughout the country came as a shock. They thought all along that the issues related to mining have long been settled since they have been debating them at the country’s courts for almost two decades. In this interview, Nelia Halcon, executive vice president of Chamber of Mines in the Philippines, clarified the issues against the industry and reported on the ongoing dialogue between the industry and the bishops to thresh out their differences. Excerpts:

The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines issued a statement calling for the repeal of the Mining Act. What do you think are the repercussions of this statement?

We were caught flat-footed when they issued that statement because for us in the industry, it is a case won already. The Mining Act was promulgated from 1986 to 1994. That means a span of almost 10 years. It was debated by all policy makers, including Congress, until in 1995. It was promulgated and signed into law by no less than President Fidel V. Ramos. And then after that, the DENR issued rules and regulations for the Mining Act. And in 1996, Marcopper tailings spill in Marinduque was blown out of proportion and so what DENR did was amend some of the provisions of the rules and regulations, 60 percent of which is about environmental protection.

So we felt that with that law and with all the safety nets already provided in the amended rules and regulations, we can move on. Then as soon as that amended IRR [implementing rules and regulations] was signed, an NGO questioned the law at the Supreme Court and it took the Supreme Court nine years to resolve the Mining Act only to be declared unconstitutional. So we requested for an intervention in behalf of the industry so that we can say everything we wanted to say. We also requested for an oral argument so that all the issues can be ventilated with all the justices around. And that happened en banc. They were there—all the justices—and we were all there also including some members of the Cabinet. All the questions were raised and answered by our lawyers and by the NGOs.

We also asked that the Supreme Court make a constitutional review because what is in the law was listed verbatim from the Constitution. And so we fought hard just to say that it is constitutional and rarely does the Supreme Court reverse itself and it was reversed. So with that, we felt that all the branches of government are now pushing for implementation at this time when we really have to propel our economy, get a resource that is indigenous to the country, unlike the electronics industry or the garments where the value added is only labor. This one, the value added will be almost 100 perhaps or maybe 5-percent imported, the rest, all coming from the Philippines. So we thought, we feel until now that the case is won. So their statement is a rehash of old issues. They made that in 1997, why make it now again?

And what do you think?

I don’t know. I really do not know but what I can say is they may unconsciously or consciously know that they are already being used by the Left. Why? Because if you open up the bundok [the mountains], what will become of the lairs of the NPA? And you know some of these people really want the people to remain poor and poor people are vulnerable.

They say that the “social cost of mining far outweighs the economic benefits.” How do you usually answer that?

When they think that the social cost outweighs mining’s economic benefits, I really don’t know what they mean by that. What they always say are dislocation, environmental degradation, and effects on culture of the people, especially the IP [indigenous peoples]. But then, how do you really look at progress or development vis a vis culture? Culture changes, and it changes for the better. So, I would like the CBCP to define what they really mean and back it up with factual information.

Is the Chamber of Mines doing something to counter CBCPs’ statement?

We are for dialogue and we’re working on that first at the local level because this is where the mining projects are located but we also are trying to contact or talk to CBCP. We tried that actually during the time of Gerry Brimo in 1997 or 1998 but they backed out at the last minute. We were not on the way to Tagaytay [venue of the dialogue] yet they backed out without any reason. But now, we are again doing that through Bernie Villegas [economics professor of the University of Asia and the Pacific, an Opus Dei-affiliated institution] and other people who have a clear perspective on the mining industry.

How many jobless people there will be?

About 200,000 direct workers. Multiply that times four or six per family. How many will that be? More than a million will be jobless. They were surprised. So I asked them, “what do you really want?” And then mining projects are ongoing now and it is an agreement between the company and the government. Can government unilaterally say sorry? There will be damages.

Do you think the Bishops have constituency in Congress regarding this issue?

No. Only the party-list groups.

How about the usual claim that Baguio that used to be a mining area did not prosper despite massive investment in mining?

You know why? I told them that first, these people are provided free housing, free light and water, free everything in the mining community. They thought those benefits will last forever so they became complacent. They did not save.

Also, the taxes that come from the mining companies have always gone to the national government. So the local government didn’t get any share from the national. Under the Local Government and the Mining Act they are supposed to get 40 percent share. But they money were not given to them. We lobbied Congress. So now under the 2006 GAA the share of the LGUs will be paid directly to the local government. Unfortunately, they still don’t get their share but we really lobbied hard for it.

Well, you can’t seem to get through the criticism regarding the Marcopper Mine disaster.

Nobody wants that to happen. It is an accident. It’s just like an airplane crash. When an airplane crashes, do you tell the airplane company to stop operations? You don’t. But it became a highly politicized issue.

The Lafayette tailings spill issue is also brewing.

Lafayette is a drop in the bucket. Some tailings was released but not as much as Marcopper. But the issue was blown out of proportion. But then, of course, the company is accountable for that and they said ‘We are responsible for this and we will not operate until government says OK, all the requirements have been met by your company, you can now operate.’ But now, they’re not operating. They are rehabilitating and they’re doing everything.

Any prognosis on the prospects of the industry?

Exploration activities are going on, even in NPA-infested areas. We’re not that much affected by political problems. The prospects are great. In terms of operations, from the 24 projects we are talking about, apat na yung nag ooperate. Coral Bay, Lafayette, Teresa Gold ng Lepanto at TVI Mining sa Cabanatuan. Tapos out of the 35 exploration activities that we’ve been promoting, 10 now have joint venture partners. That means risk capital is coming in and that’s important.

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Proclamation 1017 had a "chilling effect" on cops

Laugh with me. A recent report from the Inquirer online seems to confirm my observation that Proclamation 1017 had a “chilling effect,” not on media or the ordinary citizens, but on government functionaries, including the police, instead. Excerpts from the report:

“IF Proclamation No. 1017 had any "chilling effect" on the media at all, the police said they didn't see it. In fact, said Senior Supt. Samuel Pagdilao, it was he who got spooked.

"No, I don't think [I saw] any chilling effect on media," Pagdilao said, citing the way reporters based in Camp Crame had grilled him day after day during the week the state of national emergency was in effect.

"Did you develop fear? I don't think so. It was I who got afraid every time I faced you, guys. It seemed like it was me who felt this 'chilling effect.'"

"Every time, it seemed like you were going to barbecue me with your questions," he quipped.

Turning serious, Pagdilao said the police observed that the media "became more responsible in the exercise of freedom [during the national emergency]."

The police also believed the media had been fair, at least during the past week. "Fairness is one [thing] we saw. We have been given the same space. The newspapers, all the media outlets, were asking us for interviews to get our side. And there was this insistence to speak out the truth by means of counter-checking with us," Pagdilao added.

There you go. The "state of emergency" has become so funny. I guess that's the real reason why President Arroyo had to lift if earlier than expected.

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Globalization has tempered the impact of political crisis in the Philippines

Last week’s report by Artemio Cusi III in BusinessMirror said globalization has cushioned the impact of the political crisis in the country. That’s correct. The Philippine economy is no longer what it used to be twenty years ago. Trade reforms ushered in by the country’s tariff reform that (surprise! surprise!) started in the waning years of President Ferdinand Marcos and accelerated by the country’s participation with the World Trade Organization (WTO) were the reasons for this. About two-thirds of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) are now accounted for by the globalized sectors of the economy comprising merchandize exports, services exports (ie business process outsourcing), and remittances by overseas Filipino workers.

All these globalized sectors of the Philippine economy are really the ones preventing the country from tearing apart. A lot of fresh graduates are finding jobs in call centers, medical transcription business, litigation support, among others. Call centers alone need 50,000 workers each year! Had it not for these outsourcing companies, those kids might have vented their frustrations in “people power” gambits by politicians. Of course, close to $14 billion (i.e. $12 billion coming through formal financial channels and another $2 billion through informal channels) translates to P728 billion worth of purchasing power. It’s this volume of money that is making our factories and the services sectors (e.g. finance, real estate, telecommunication, wholesale and retail, business services) busy. Agriculture itself, given good weather, is now capable of growing at 4-6 percent, boosted by the sector's greater access to inputs, bio-medics, and packaging materials.

Oil prices have been rising owing to increasing demand from China, India, and United States as well as the continuing geopolitical uncertainties in the Middle East. Yet, inflation in the country has been relatively manageable. Again the reason for this is globalization. Trade liberalization worldwide, save for a few products, has generated greater competition among producers and suppliers, thus yielding better prices for consumers.

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Winners and losers under Proclamation 1017

As expected, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo lifted the Proclamation 1017 thus putting an end to the week-long "state of emergency." She really had to because the whole affair has started to become ridiculous. Who are the winners and losers in that funny episode in our lives?

First, the winners.

1. President Arroyo. If the intelligence reports that military rebels and the extreme left had formed an alliance for the supposed coup, surely GMA was the clear winner. She survived. But for how long?

2. The Opposition. It seems like P1017 has provided the opposition a unifying factor. It seems like the numbers of those who are critical of GMA has multiplied. Given GMA's declining popularity, the chance for a successful impeachment might has increased.

3. The Military. More than ever, GMA has become too dependent on the Armed Forces, knowing that her continued stay in power depends on the "loyalty" of the chain of command to her presidency.

4. Extreme Left. Proc1017 has really made celebrities out of leftist party-list legislators. As members of Congress, these people hardly made a stir until GMA proclaimed the "state of emergency."

And the losers?

1. Overseas Filipino workers. That coup attempt certainly has done a great damage to the Philippines' image abroad. Employers of OFWs might think Filipinos are funny and are not to be taken seriously.

2. The economy. The Philippines barely attract a billion dollars worth of investments each year, as compared to China's $50 billion or Malaysia's $4 billion a year. With this recent political troubles, many foreign investors would have second thoughts about putting in their money here in the Philippines. That means most of those who will graduate this April won't find jobs.

3. The rest of the Filipino people. Do I need to explain this?

A state of emergency like no other

When President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo went live on TV issuing Proclamation 1017, I was agitated. Will she declare Martial Law next? Would the police and army close newspapers and TV channels? A week after, however, it appears Arroyo is not really bent on something big. It seems Arroyo simply had the proclamation as a big stick that she waves but never intends to use.

The police raided the Daily Tribune, but the paper is still running and is fiery as an anti-government as ever. The cops arrested two leftist legislators but I guess government will eventually release them. The other four party-list legislators who were suspected to be part of the “coup” were supposed to be arrested yesterday, but until now they are still free and are enjoying their new celebrity status. Notice how they theatrically raise their clinched fist each time someone trains a camera on them.

The proclamation was supposedly made to enable the government to go after the "enemies of the state." The reality now is that Proclamation 1017 has only put Arroyo and her cabinet on the defensive. It is clear that it has not made a “chilling effect” on media. Rather, it has made a chilling effect on all government bureaucrats. Every where they go, government officials are hounded by media persons who are criticizing them on the proclamation’s undemocratic character. Every time government spokespersons appear on TV, they always have to defend themselves.

Many in the middle class who use to sit on the fence for their dislike of both Arroyo and the Opposition have now abandoned their neutrality and trained their guns on Arroyo. People are not afraid to conduct rallies at all. Every body seems to dislike her now; and those who use to openly support her are silent.

Arroyo saw ghosts and issued Proclamation 1017. Now she is even seeing more ghosts. If this is indeed a state of emergency, it’s really just Arroyo’s state of emergency.

"State of Emergency is Arroyo's gift to the opposition

In fairness, President Arroyo’s Proclamation 1017 did not trigger a mass round up of the opposition leaders and journalists. Despite the raid on the Philippine Daily Tribune by police forces, and the arrest of a few Leftists leaders, Philippine media, both print and broadcast, are still able to report freely as they used to do since the fall of Ferdinand Marcos in 1986. It seems journalists are not really taking government’s "guidelines" seriously. In fact, Proclamation 1017 now appears to be President Arroyo’s gift to the Opposition. She has given them one big unifying factor. I wouldn’t wonder if she lifts the State of Emergency soon.

In the global blogging community, however, it seems like the Philippines’ democratic credentials are now totally in question. Writes AsiaPundit:

“The year of the dog should be interesting for Asia. A little over two months ago, AsiaPundit visited Austin's site and questioned the possibility of a coup happening in either Thailand or the Philippines, arguing that after a decade of democratic rule it seems unlikely either country would really care for a return of dictatorship (even if elected governments were seen as corrupt or incompetent). Two months has made quite a difference, and while neither country seems likely to suffer a coup, stability has suffered a double blow. The pace at which the governments of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra have unravelled is impressive.”

Robert Mayer of Publius Pundit lectures Filipinos on the sad turn of democracy in the Philippines:

“The declaration of a state of emergency, the possibility of a military coup, and the rising chance of mass street protests are all challenges to democracy in the Philippines. After twenty years following the original People Power Revolution, it’s high time that all of the country’s stakeholders begin to respect the rule of law. Especially the military. While President Arroyo’s declaration of emergency may be both shady as well as bad politics, especially in light of her lost legitimacy following a corruption scandal last year, the military has done more to undermine democracy in the Philippines than any other single player. It must be purged of any members who want to influence politics in the country in any way if the country is to ever develop democratic institutions.

Mayer lambasts both pro- and anti-Arryo forces in the Philippines:

“The main characters supporting the current government and those opposing it are all comprised of a group of elites who have dominated the country since Marcos’ downfall twenty years ago. In the meantime, work-a-day Filipinos are still trying to put food on their plates. At the end of the day, they don’t care that the opposition considers Arroyo illegitimate because both sides have proven themselves ineffective. They want a government that works. The only way for this to ever happen is if they lay to rest the notion the idea of using people power coups when anything goes wrong and develop the institutions that make democracy work.”