PHL unemployment: A problem runs deep

There is a pressing need for a road map towards improving the lag in
agriculture and manufacturing to address a stubbornly high unemployment
rate.
Analysts interviewed by GMA News Online said a strong output alone
which grew by 7.4 percent in the first three quarters of 2013, the fastest phase
in Southeast Asia cannot address Philippine unemployment, especailly by
relying heavily on the services sector.
The United Nations (UN) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have
this to say about the Philippine economy: it will continue growing faster than
peer economies in Southeast Asia.
Despite the rosy predictions, and the latest performance of the economy, the
Philippines has the highest unemployment rate in the region.
Translating economic growth into employment opportunities remains a
significant challenge in the Philippines, according to the UN World
Economic Situation and Prospects 2014 report released earlier this week.
The National Statistics Office (NSO) has noted the population of working age
Filipinos or those over 15 years old are more than 63.1 million. But
employment in the services sectors sunshine industry business process
outsourcing account for less than a million jobs.
Not enough
Jobs are being generated, but not fast enough to make a dent in
unemployment rate of 6.5 percent as of end-October 2013, said Emilio Neri
Jr., Bank of the Philippine Islands lead economist.
Jobs growth is commendable, but it is not enough, he said.
The latest unemployment number actually dipped from 6.8 percent in
October 2012, but a labor expert said this could be because more Filipinos
have given up looking for jobs.

Rene Ofreneo, professor at the University of the Philippines School of Labor

and Industrial Relations (UP SOLAIR), noted the NSO definition of labor
force refer to Filipinos 15 years old and above, employed or unemployed but
actively looking for jobs.
A lot of people gave up looking for jobs, he said.
Workers in the services sector comprised the largest proportion of those who
are employed or 53.4 percent of the total in October 2013, according to the
NSO.
But Ofreneo said much of the employment in the services sector consists
largely of home-based work, or low-productivity jobs in microenterprises,
and contractual work in the retail industry.
Because of this reality, the absence of structural reforms will keep the
unemployment rate swinging within 6 to 7 percent.
We have very weak jobs generation, especially good quality jobs which is
obtained by an economy growing on its industrial feet, the UP SOLAIR
professor said. Government should do bolder reforms.
Quality employment refers to jobs that espouse security of tenure and
mandated benefits like health insurance and social security.
Playing catch up
However, strengthening the agriculture and industrial sectors is not a walk in
the park.
This entails playing catch up in infrastructure development, which has been
neglected for decades, said Ildemarc Bautista, Metropolitan Bank & Trust
Co. (Metrobank) research head.

Addressing the infrastructure gap, which the World Economic Forum

identified as a debilitating bottleneck that chokes investments, will help grow
manufacturing and agriculture by easing the hurdles in the supply chain.
The whole point mainly revolves on the investment climate... improving the
cost of doing business... infrastructure and logistics, IMF resident
representative Shanaka Jayanath Peiris told reporters in a briefing on
Wednesday.
There are also other things that are important. A large part of the population
is in agriculture, and it's not only about manufacturing. Farm-to-market roads
are also very important, he added.
Metrobank's Bautista envisions a more synergistic approach to things, saying
government may link manufacturing with agriculture as a means to creating
quality employment.
Agro-industries, agribusinesses there are a lot of opportunities in that
area, he said.
'Growth drivers'
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said the government is
aware of areas its needs to improve.
Im also more concerned about the quality of employment, said Balisacan,
who is also director general at National Economic and Development
Authority.
Thats why we're pushing for growth drivers like manufacturing, tourism,
agribusiness, and infrastructure. Those are the ones that can potentially
generate these kinds of high quality employment, he noted.
Balisacan said government is working on an update to the Aquino
administrations Philippine Development Plan 2011-2016, which focuses on
creating jobs at the grassroots level and addressing poverty.

In updating the plan, economic managers have consulted regional

stakeholders to ensure that economic initiatives will be felt at the grassroots
level.
But three years after the current administration took over the helm of
government in 2010, UP SOLAIR professor Ofreneo sensed the urgency of
the situation.
They really have to come out with a clear plan soon, Ofreneo said. VS,
GMA News
MANILA, PhilippinesThe number of unemployed Filipinos in the last
quarter of 2013 swelled to more than 12 million, making the 7.2-percent
growth in the countrys gross domestic product (GDP) last year, considered
the second-fastest after China, far from inclusive.
The unemployment rate rose to 27.5 percent, or an estimated 12.1 million
individuals, as 2.5 million Filipinos joined the ranks of the jobless between
September and December, a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey found.
The level of joblessness across the country was almost 6 points higher than
the 21.7 percent (some 9.6 million) in the previous quarter, results of the
SWS survey conducted from Dec. 11 to 16 showed. The results were first
published in BusinessWorld.
Nikka Policarpio, 19, who graduated from the University of Santo Tomas last
year with a degree in journalism, is among the millions of unemployed.
Nearly a year after college, Policarpio is already in between jobs since she
left her first job last month as a marketing communications specialist.
I have been applying at different media companies for less than a month
now I want to take a rest before I start working again, said Policarpio,
who resigned from her nine-month stint with a cosmetics company because
the low compensation did not match the heavy workload.

The high unemployment rate despite the high GDP growth may have
contributed to the pessimistic outlook of Filipinos last December.
A survey by another polling outfit, Pulse Asia, found that 55 percent of
Filipinos felt the national quality of life deteriorated in the past 12 months.
They also expected the situation to remain the same for the whole of 2014.
Understandable
Malacaang on Monday described as understandable the findings of the
SWS survey.
Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda pointed to calamities that hit the
country last year to help explain why unemployment rate increased to 27.5
percent at the end of 2013.
Lacierda cited Super Typhoon Yolanda (international name: Haiyan), which
devastated central Philippines last November, and the 7.2-magnitude
earthquake that hit Bohol and Cebu provinces a month earlier.
According to the Geneva-based International Organization for Migration,
some 6 million workers saw their livelihood destroyed or disrupted as a result
of Yolanda.
Lacierda said the siege of Zamboanga City by Nur Misuaris followers also
disrupted economic activity in the area.
Certainly, its very unfortunate that these things happened, but we have to
rise up. That is the role of government: to provide for its people, he said.
Bloodied but unbowed
We were bloodied but unbowed, Lacierda added, borrowing the words of
William Ernest Henleys poem, Invictus.
Despite the increase in the unemployment rate, Lacierda said the government
would continue to ensure that our people find employment.

The latest jobless rate, however, was below the 34.4 percent posted in March
2012.
The unemployment rate has mostly remained over 20 percent since May
2005, according to SWS. It was under 15 percent from 1993 to March 2004,
and was within 16.5 percent to 19 percent from August 2004 to March 2005.
Different definitions
The SWS definition of unemployment covers respondents aged 18 and above
who are without a job at present and looking for a job. This excludes those
not looking for work such as housewives, students and retired or disabled
persons.
This is different from the official definition in the Labor Force Survey (LFS),
which covers persons 15 years and over who are reported not working,
looking for work and available for work.
The governments latest LFS put the official unemployment rate at 6.5
percent (about 2.6 million Filipinos) as of October 2013.
The SWS survey also found that 40 percent of respondents believed there
would be more jobs in the next 12 months, 31 percent claimed the number of
available jobs would remain the same, while 21 percent expected fewer jobs.
Unemployment picked up sharply among men (from 13.4 percent to 21.2
percent) but remained higher among women (from 32.4 percent to 35.9
percent).
Highest among 18-24
Across age groups, joblessness remained highest among those 18-24 years
old (52.3 percent). It was 33.1 percent in the 25-34 age bracket, 25 percent in
the 35-44 age bracket and 17.7 percent among those 45 years old and older.
The nationwide unemployment included those who were retrenched (10.4
percent), resigned from their jobs (13.5 percent), and first-time job seekers
(3.5 percent).

Endo
Of those retrenched, 6.8 percent did not have their contracts renewed (also
called endo or end of contract, usually after six months so that the workers
wont be regularized and the employer wont pay benefits), 1.6 percent had
employers whose businesses ceased operations and 2 percent were laid off.
The survey, which used face-to-face interviews with 1,550 Filipinos, had a
margin of error of plus-or-minus 2.5 percentage points.Reports from
Rafael L. Antonio and Kathleen de Villa, Inquirer Research; and Christian
V. Esguerra
Rising unemployment and poverty in the Philippines
By Dante Pastrana
6 April 2009
The Philippine economy is reeling under the impact of the global recession,
with growth rates slowing from 7.3 percent in 2007 to 4.6 percent in 2008
and a further steep decline expected this year. While the country is not as
heavily reliant on exports as Singapore or Thailand, exports nevertheless
averaged nearly 45 percent of GDP between 2003 and 2008.
Last year exports fell sharply. Merchandise exports contracted by 1.7 percent,
electronics by 24.3 percent, garments by 6.5 percent and other manufactured
products by 32.9 percent. Exports of mineral products slid 2.92 percent, down
from a growth of more than 20 percent in 2007. Agricultural exports
measured by value rose 28 percent but only because of rising prices. By
volume, this sector also declined by 2 percent.
The Philippines other major exportcheap labourrose sharply by 28
percent, up from 1.4 percent growth in 2007. More than 1.376 million
workers left the country looking for work. Compared to 2007, remittances
rose last year by 15 percent to $17 billion, according to the World Bank.
Three months into 2009, eight of the countrys top ten export destinations
including the US, its main trading partnerare in recession. As a result, the
Philippine government has been forced to revise its forecast for 2009
downward from a range of 3.7-4.7 percent to 3.7-4.4 percent. Other
predictions are worseranging from 3.8 percent by the Development Bank
of Singapore to 1.8 percent by the Union Bank of Switzerland.

New year-on-year data for January 2009 underscored the dimming economic
prospects. Exports dropped by 41 percent after falling sharply in December
by 40 percent. Exports of manufactured goods, which comprise 84.8 percent
of the total, decreased year-on-year by 39.9 percent. Agricultural
commodities dropped by 38.5 percent and mineral products by 43 percent.
Recently released Labor Department figures for 2008 attempted to paint a
picture of a resilient labour market, highlighting the departments claim that
over 530,000 jobs were generated in 2008. The figure was well below the
924,000 jobs created in 2007 and far less than the governments annual target
of 1.6 million jobs. Nearly half262,000were in agriculture, forestry and
hunting, with average pay of $US2.7 a day, barely above the UN poverty
threshold of $2 a day. The governments minimum cost-of-living for a family
of six is over $18 a day.
The Labor Department report acknowledged that losses of better-paid jobs in
other areas had been high. In manufacturing, 135,000 jobs with an average
basic daily pay of $6 were axed. The electricity sector lost 5,000 jobs with an
average daily pay of $9. In transport, 9,000 jobs with an average daily pay of
$7 were destroyed.
Intel Corporation shut down an assembly test facility on Luzon Island and
terminated 1,800 workers, more than half its 3,000 workforce. By the
midyear, it expected to halt production altogether. Panasonic announced
plans to close a battery factory, with 60 employees to be terminated. The
business processing and outsourcing company, Accenture, announced a 50
percent cut in its 1,000-strong workforce. Another electronics company,
Amkor Technology, retrenched 1,500 workers, 20 percent of its workforce.
More recently, Fujitsu announced 2,000 job cuts last month, to take effect on
April 18.
The official estimate for unemployment in 2008 was 7.4 percent or 2.7
millionan increase of 0.1 percent from 2007. These figures, however, are a
gross understatement. The government defines the unemployed as those who
are simultaneously without work, looking for work and immediately
available for work.
Moreover, working is broadly defined to include unpaid work for family
businesses (a small farm or a small variety store) and working for oneself
(street vendors, jeepney drivers). If the 4.1 million unpaid workers in family

businesses, and just half of the over 10 million self-employed were

included, the jobless total would be more than 11 million people among those
15 years and older.
In its fourth quarter survey, the Social Weather Stations (SWS), a survey
group, found that 11 million people or 27.9 percent of the adult labour force
(over 18 years) were unemployed. The result was based on face-to-face
interviews with 1,500 people across the country. Since 2005, SWS surveys
have shown an unemployment rate in double figures. In 2007, 17.5 percent
were unemployed despite record economic growth of more than 7 percent.
In another survey, SWS reported a record 23.7 percent increase in the number
of families experiencing hunger at least once in three months, to 4.3 million
families or more than 20 million people.
According to a 2006 government survey, more than 27.6 million Filipinos or
32.9 percent of the population are poor. The figure includes those who could
not provide in a sustained manner for their minimum basic needs for food,
health, education, housing, and other social amenities of life. The number of
subsistence poorthose unable to provide enough to eatwere over 12.2
million. The figures are undoubtedly worse today.
The government estimates that 935,700 workers are at risk of losing their
jobs both locally and abroad this year. Over 362,000 jobs in the export sector
are under threat90 percent of those are in the electronics, garments and
ignition wiring sub-sectors.
More than 500,000 overseas jobs are under threat. There are 129,000
temporary workers in the recession-wracked US. Also in recession are South
Korea and Taiwan, which between them employ 200,000 Filipino factory
workers. Another 48,000 housemaids are employed in Hong Kong and
Singapore, which are both contracting economically.
In addition, the government estimates that 130,000 seamen on cruise ships
are facing layoffs. Japanese ship owners, according to Agence France Presse,
have notified the government that more than 40,000 crew members on car
carriers, bulk carriers and container ships will be laid off as world trade
continues to slow.
President Gloria Arroyos administration has responded by shifting the
burden onto working people. Labor regulations are set to be relaxed to allow

for unpaid overtime and a compressed work week. Nearly half the workforce
is employed in the so-called informal sector where workers are not even
protected by the countrys weak labor code and regulations and receive less
than the minimum legal wage.
As the economy sinks further and unemployment continues to grow, a social
explosion is building up as working people find it increasingly impossible to
make ends meet.
nemployment means being out of job or a situation where the individual is
wiling to work but has none.
This article brings and discusses the main issues/effects of the unemployment
on our society and economy.
How does unemployment affect the economy?
Some of the well-known effects of unemployment on the economy are:
Unemployment financial costs
The government and the nation suffer. In many countries the government has
to pay the unemployed some benefits. The greater the number of the
unemployed or the longer they are without work the more money the
government has to shell out.
Therefore, the nation not only has to deal with the lost income and decreased
production but also with additional cost.
Spending power
The spending power of an unemployed person and his/her family decreases
drastically and they would rather save than spend their money, which in turn
affects the economy adversely.
Reduced spending power of the employed
Increased taxes and the insecurity about their own work may affect the
spending power of the working people as well and they too may start to
spend less than before thus affecting the economy and also the society in a
negative manner.
Recession
With the increase rates of unemployment other economy factors are

significantly affected, such as: the income per person, health costs, quality of
health-care, standard of leaving and poverty.
All these affect not just the economy but the entire systems and the society in
general. Here are some aspects of the impact of unemployment on our
society:
The effect of unemployment on our society
Unemployment affects not just the person himself but also his/her family and
in the long run the society where he lives.
Unemployment brings with it despair, unhappiness and anguish. It forces
people to live their lives in a way they do not wish to The life expectancy is
negatively affected.
Life expectancy is the ease by which people living in a time/place are able to
satisfy their needs/wants. Here are the main aspects:
1. Mental health: Mental health problems like: Law self-confidence,
feeling unworthy, depression and hopelessness. With the lost income
and the frustration involved in it, the recently unemployed may develop
negative attitudes toward common things in life and may feel that all
sense of purpose is lost. Frequent emotions could be low self-esteem,
inadequateness and feeling dejected and hopeless.
2. Health diseases: The unemployment overall tension can increase
dramatically general health issues of individuals.
3. Tension at home: Quarrels and arguments at home front which may
lead to tension and increased numbers of divorces etc.
4. Political issues: Loss of trust in administration and the government
which may lead to political instability
5. Tension over taxes rise: Unemployment also brings up discontent and
frustration amongst the tax paying citizens. In order to meet the
demands of the unemployment fund the government many a times may
have to increase the taxes thus giving way to restlessness amongst the
tax paying citizens.
6. Insecurity amongst employees: The prevailing unemployment and the
plight of the unemployed people and their families may create fear and
insecurity even in the currently employed people.

7. Crime and violence: Increase in the rate of crime.

8. Suicide cases: Increase in the rate of suicide attempts and actual
suicides as well.
9. Social outing: Unemployment may bring a decrease in social outings
and interactions with other people, including friends.
10.
Stigma: Unemployment brings with more than just no work. It
also brings with it the disgrace that the person has to bear. Nobody
likes to be termed as unemployed.
11.
Standard of leaving: In times of unemployment the competition
for jobs and the negotiation power of the individual decreases and thus
also the living standard of people with the salaries packages and
income reduced.
12.
Employment gaps: To further complicate the situation the
longer the individual is out of job the more difficult it becomes to find
one. Employers find employment gasps as a negative aspect. No one
wants to hire a person who has been out of work for some time even
when theres no fault of the individual per say.
13.
Lose of skills usage: The unemployed is not able to put his/her
skills to use. And in a situation where it goes on for too long the person
may have to lose some of his/her skills.
It is saddening that despite the rapid economic expansion for the past
two years, millions of Filipinos remain unemployed. This is what
economists refer to as jobless growth, a phenomenon that afflicts
many developing countries, debunking the myth that economic growth
automatically translates to employment and poverty reduction.
Halfway into his six-year term, President Aquino last week challenged his
Cabinet to come up with an action plan for poverty reduction, mainly through
job generation. He presided over a rare full-Cabinet meeting after a Social
Weather Stations survey showed that the unemployment rate in 2013 had
worsened to 27.5 percent, equivalent to an estimated 12.1 million, as 2.5
million Filipinos joined the ranks of the jobless between September and
December. And yet the economy expanded by 7.2 percent, the second-fastest
in Asia after Chinas.

There are several proposals to address unemployment, but sadly, there

are no short-term ones. These measures are well known to the Aquino
administration and its predecessors. These involve structural reforms
that will make it conducive for investors to put money in factories and
brick-and-mortar industries. Only recently, the Asian Development
Bank, in a publication titled Taking the Right Road to Inclusive
Growth, reiterated that the Philippines failure to boost its industrial
sector was a key reason its economic growth remained far from being
inclusive.
The Philippine economys chronic problems of high unemployment,
slow poverty reduction and low investment are reflections of the
sluggish industrialization, the ADB said, pointing out that it is the
industrial sector, which includes manufacturing, that should drive the
economy to substantially reduce unemployment and poverty. Economic
growth during the past years had been fueled by the service sector,
mainly the business process outsourcing industry. According to the
ADB, the industrial sector, compared with the service sector, has the
better ability to create more job opportunities for the poor and a much
higher multiplier effect on the economy. The ADB suggested more
government support for the industrial sector through investments in
education, skills training and infrastructure to achieve inclusive
economic growth.
In June 2013, Albay Gov. Joey Salceda, an economist before becoming
a politician, had a mouthful to say about the buzz phrase inclusive
growth. He suggested that the government invest in the countryside to
address the high unemployment rate, warning that social injustice is
very much stubborn and structural, historically persistent and policyimmune, as evidenced by the huge job losses despite the countrys
stellar economic growth.
14.
Saying that the economys problems had been overstudied and
overdiscussed but undersolved, Salceda called on the government to
shift the focus of its investments strategy from Metro Manila to the
countryside. Go for low-lying fruits, or where the growth is easy
because the base is lowerand where else but the countryside? How
far can we squeeze growth out of the National Capital Region when in
fact the solution is decongestion? he said, lamenting that private

investments were concentrated on the property sector, which he labeled

as an industry only of the rich.
15.
The agriculture sector is a very good example of where
investments should go. Why should we content ourselves with just
producing and exporting raw copra or bananas, or the fresh catch from
our seas? The government must make it conducive for investors to put
money in factories and manufacturing facilities to bring the agricultural
sector a step higherprocessed agricultural products. Our farmers and
fishers need not forever be farmers and fishers; they must upgrade to
become processed-coconut producers or canned-fish manufacturers.
16.
We are not lacking in solutions to the worsening unemployment
problem. The private sector, not the government, is the engine of
economic growth. However, our investment climate is such that
prospective investors are
17.
either turned off by bureaucratic red tape or stymied by
regulatory restrictions. We need only political will on the part of the
government to build roads, sea and air ports and other infrastructure,
and remove restrictions to the flow of local and foreign investments,
and for the private sector to do its part by investing in job-creating
activities, particularly in the countryside.

The latest labor statistics show the stubbornness of the unemployment

problem in this country in the face of a respectable growth rate. This has
forced the countrys Chief Executive to call for a meeting of his official
family to discuss the issue. Indeed the level of unemployment and underemployment in this country which involves no less than a quarter of the
working force rooted in underperforming sectors of the economy is the
primary cause of the income maldistribution and high poverty rates.
The consensus of most economists here and abroad with regard to the local
unemployment situation appears to have the following key features:
The Need To Promote A More Appropriate Balance Between Rural And
Urban Economic Opportunities

The main thrust of this activity is the need for the integrated development of
the rural sector, the spread of small-scale industries throughout the
countryside, and the reorientation of economic activity and social
investments toward the rural areas.
Full development of small-scale, labor-intensive industries
The expansion of these mostly small-scale and labor-intensive industries in
both urban and rural areas can be accomplished in two ways: directly,
through government intervention and indirectly through investment
incentives for the private sector. This is because the consumption activities of
barrio folk demand less import-intensive and more labor-intensive than that
of the rich (there are less import-oriented shopping malls in the provinces!)
Choosing appropriate labor -intensive technologies of production
One of the principal factors inhibiting the success of any long-run program of
employment creation both in urban industry and rural agriculture is the
almost complete technological dependence of Third World nations on
imported (typically labor saving) machinery and equipment from the
developed countries. Both domestic and international efforts must be made
reduce this dependence by developing technological research and adaptation
capacities in the developing countries themselves. Such efforts might first be
linked to the development of small-scale, labor-intensive rural and urban
enterprises. They could also focus on the development of low-cost, laborintensive methods of meeting rural infrastructure needs, including roads,
irrigation and drainage system, and essential health and educational services.
This is an area where scientific and technological assistance from the
developed countries could prove extremely fruitful.
Creating a more direct link between education and employment
The phenomenon of the educated unemployed calls into question the
appropriateness and relevance of the educational system, especially at the
higher levels in this country.
The creation of attractive economic opportunities in rural areas would make it
easier to redirect educational system toward the needs of rural development.

The present educational systems, being transplant of Western systems, are

oriented toward preparing students to function in a small modern sector
which can absorb only so much of school-leavers. Many of the necessary
skills for development therefore remain largely neglected.
Reduce rural migration
The last half-century in this country has been associated with urbanization
which in turn has attracted migration from thru province bringing down the
total population in agriculture.
The arrival of these urban migrants has not only helped to exercise a
continuous downward pressure on real wages but also contributed to the
problem of urban unemployment if not social problems.
Remove capital intensive bias
The failure of the urban industrial sector to provide more jobs (i.e. to absorb
more from the swelling pool of the available urban labor force) may be
attributed to the over-all scarcity of capital and to its increasingly excessive
concentration in large-scale industries using increasingly capital-intensive
technologies. The consequently slow expansion in the demand for labor was
caused partly by policies which biased industrialization in capital-intensive
directions and the consequent benign neglect of agriculture specifically the
food sector which could have been fertile grounds for employment given an
enlightened rural mobilization policies and agrarian reforms.
Employment strategy package
Post-war growth in the Philippines, dominated by a capital intensive
consumer import substitution strategy with its bias further against labourusing technology quickly ran aground in the mid-nineties. Unfortunately the
failed strategy did not pay sufficient attention to the mobilization of resources
in the traditional rural sector. Consequently, the demand by the urban
industrial sector for labour failed to expand quickly enough to absorb the
increasing supply, continuously augmented as it was by the premature
migration of a rural population seeking more remunerative job opportunities
not available in the provinces. This led not only to real wage stagnation, but

more importantly to the persistence of open and disguised unemployment,

and the worsening income distribution. Had it not been for the safety valve of
overseas employment the poverty situation in this country would have
entered serious proportions.
This lead us to a two-pronged strategy package as essential to eradicating the
pesky unemployment problem the full mobilization of the preponderant
rural sector, and a labour-intensive industrial diversification drive for a more
dynamic industrial sector.
The diversification drive must emphasis the move towards labor-intensive
industrialization to service the burgeoning domestic market of close to a 100
million people and the export market export. For such a non-traditional
export drive to be successful, past biases against the use of labour must be
corrected so that international markets can be penetrated with wider
participation by medium- and small-scale entrepreneurs.
5 Responses to Solving the unemployment problem
1.

Annie says:
March 6, 2014 at 12:56 am
One reason left out in the above article As to why so many Filipinos are
unemployed, and thus poor, is the unsustainable rapid population
growth in our country. The number of Filipinos of working ages
entering the job market every year far out-strips the number of jobs our
economy could produce resulting therefore in high unemployment.
We have to slow down our birth rate to reduce unemployment and
poverty.

2.

Pedro Villa says:

March 5, 2014 at 4:11 pm

In this country it is unfortunate that the studies, conclusions, and

suggestions of economists and experts in their respective fields take a
backseat to our politics and our ideologies.
Take the case of agriculture. Aside from graft and corruption, some
government policies and programs are anti-farmer resulting in the state
of agriculture today which is last place amongst our Asian neighbors
and an aging farmer. The average age of the farmer is 55 and 59 for our
rice farmers. The government has instituted a Cheap Food Policy that
favors the consumer over the farmer-producer. The government caps
the profit of the farmer but doesnt give any support when prices go
below his cost of production. CARP has also made sure that the farmer
will forever be poor by restricting him to 0-3 hectare limit and
prevented from using his land as collateral. Not to mention that
plantation crops are applied a flower pot sized area.
Unless and until we learn to solve our economic problems with
economic solutions(not political) we will always be backward or
extinct.
3.

Claro Apolinar says:

March 5, 2014 at 7:58 am
Mr. Romero, all your proposals are needed to make ours a more
prosperous and less poverty-stricken country.
My question is thisWhy did you and your friends in the media, in the
administration of the late Cory Aquino, Fidel Ramos, Joseph Estrada,
Gloria Arroyo and in the first three years of Benigno Aquino NOT
FIGHT FOR THESE.
Why did you and the great economists of the UP, La Salle, Ateneo and
UA&P allow our industrializetion to be destroyed by the polcymakers
of these presidents and our agriculture and agri-business to be
abandoned?

4.

Tinoy says:

March 5, 2014 at 7:42 am

How can you solve this kind of problem if our government now is very
biased towards favoring the businesses of the rich few oligarchs in our
country. Take the case of power industry (controlled by the Salim
Group, Aboitiz, SM, Lopez), water utilities (Salim Group, Ayala,
Lopez), DOTC projects (DMCI, SM, Gokongwei) and even the PPP for
school bldgs awarded to large group of conglomerates not to mention
also the prime hospitals where our poor patients go are sold to private
companies. No more money and time to help our farmers and skilled
and ordinary laborers. Our GOCCs and NGOs that should deliver the
necessities to our poor populace are being corrupted by our politicians
and are now destined to be phased-out.
5.

Ricardo Harina says:

March 5, 2014 at 5:20 am
The simple solution for the Philippines after amending EPIRA LAW is
to invest in State of the Art Combined Cycle Power Plants in Luzon,
Visayas and Mindanao that will provide STABLE, CHEAP and
ENVIRONMENT friendly POWER that will encourage Foreign and
Local Investors to invest which will generate employment, prevent
migration here and abroad and provide fast economic activity. This
may take 2 to 3 years to build once started.
Our present and future plans on energy as envisioned by Sec. Petilla for
this country is hopeless because it will not provide STABLE, CHEAP
and ENVIRONMENT friendly POWER.