by Ernesto T. Solidum
Noveau rich Filipinos who have the fortune of working overseas (and those who earn more wealth) flaunt their riches by investing in luxury cars, condos, mansions, beach houses all to satisfy their egos. It appears they are just living for themselves having forgotten their identity and the mission that God has willed for them.
These folks are the loneliest creatures in the planet. With increased poverty and deprivation of people around them, they found it troublesome to enjoy the safety and comfort of their homes. Criminal gangs proliferate in the rich neighborhood and exclusive subdivisions. What a price to pay!
Man is just a steward of God’s bounty. He never owns a thing. If you appropriate only these riches to yourself you destroy the basic information of trust. In short, you are selfish.
The world could be a better place if wealth is invested in ingenious and novel ways to create jobs and stability to many people. In 2011, some P18.7 billion was generated by our OFW’s. Think of the many economic opportunities if that money was wisely invested.
For instance, bicycle spare parts could be manufactured piece by piece in the Philippine foundry and metalcraft shops. Production specialization could be assigned to one factory owner to establish quality standard. Later, one factory owner assembles these spare parts to create a beautiful and durable masterpiece. This is how industrial revolution begun in the US, Japan, Germany, and other developed economies.
What appears to be our setback toward realizing industrialization in the Philippines is that we believed only on importation, nothing else. Our leaders seem innocuous to change and ingratiate themselves with the packaging or assembling type of industrialization where all spare parts are imported. This is the worst kind of deceit and formula toward ruin.
The basic reason why the Philippines is left out in the cold by our neighboring Asian countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam is that we chose to supply labor than produce and sell the goods ourselves. We have long nurtured the idea that agriculture must be developed first before industrialization. The truth is that industrialization fires the engines of growth in developing the American frontier. Corn, wheat, and soybeans flour shed and fed the hungry world.
Agriculture is perceived difficult, unglamorous, unprofitable, and ugly. It faces a bleak future in the Philippines. This is the reason why Aklan State University has far fewer graduates each year compared to those in engineering, information technology, nursing and other courses. At the farm level, aging farmers may never be replaced by young ones because (they believe) income is not remunerative.
Really, it is disheartening that the cost of producing rice in this country is higher than neighboring countries. This is the reason why we always import rice, sometimes it exceeded of what we actually needed. Keeping domestic rice prices artificially low with imported rice is a disincentive among actual tillers to produce more and achieve self sufficiency.
Grain importation is not only expensive but wasteful. World Bank data according to Florencio B. Abad, Secretary DBM, only about 31 percent of NFA rice went to the poorest 20 percent of households and that it cost the Agency as much as P8.60 to deliver an equivalent of P1.00 of low priced rice. NFA’s obligation from previous Administration totaled P10 billion.
Notably Taiwan, Japan, and China have one of the world’s record production in rice simply because they follow recommended technologies and financially supported. More capital means they could buy hand tractors, harvesters, threshers, fertilizer, pesticides and other tools of the trade to implement scientific agriculture technologies. Unfortunately, this is just a dream of Filipino farmers. He may not be able to lift himself from the quagmire of poverty, hunger and deprivation in his lifetime, unless a miracle happens.
Industrialization can work wonders. It is a prime source of employment and foreign exchange. Solution to our transportation, smog and high cost of petrol could be the bicycle. So why not consider developing a public transport based on the bike? After all we have our trisikad for long. Why patronize a product that is expensive, hard to maintain and consumes a lot of guts? For all the accolades given by motorcycle fanatics, the machine has killed and maimed more people in this planet than those who died of cancer.
For the noveau rich guys think where to invest your money. A sprawling mansion in the countryside or SUV may be first priority. But will it benefit a lot of people or limited to you and your family alone? Are you aware of the hungry mouths and street children living in your neighborhood while you are living in your ivory tower? At least we must have our moral compunctions. Each of us have our decisions. It is never too late to make amends.
Believe and follow positive values to make life more meaningful and enjoyable. /MP
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