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2007-05-19 Southeast Asia

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Posted by Fred 2007-05-19 00:00|| || Front Page|| [1 views ] Top

#1 Harvard graduate economist GMA has squandered a grand opportunity to rehabilitate Asia's "sick man". Little else but endemic corruption holds the Philippines back from being one of the mini-dragons. They have one of the most literate English speaking populations in all Asia short only of India. During the 1980s it was home to the likes of Intel and Signetics IC package assembly plants. As those wire bonding and encapsulation functions became increasingly automated it no longer made sense to install six figure machines where a single service call could rack up a five digit repair bill.

The Philippines has been unable to abandon an outdated bureaucracy whose copious red tape strangles foreign investment. Couple this with a massive scandal over "first husband" Jim Arroyo being involved in graft from the nation's jueteng numbers racket plus persistent rumors of vote fixing during the last presidential election cycle and you can stick a fork in Gloria, she's done.

Worst of all is how any overturning of Arroyo will result in the installation of yet an even more corrupt oligarchy like Erap (Estrada). This whole political trainwreck is highly reminiscent of the Palestinians rejecting Fatah only to elect Hamas, just without so many of the terrorist overtones.

Posted by Zenster">Zenster 2007-05-19 04:17|| 2007-05-19 04:17|| Front Page Top

#2 Tossing this in to start a bonfire.

MacArthur was responsible for both the bureaucracy of the Philippines and that of Japan, with about equal success. There are those who might suggest that this truism applies to his staff during WWII as well.

Posted by Chuck Simmins">Chuck Simmins 2007-05-19 22:06|| http://northshorejournal.org]">[http://northshorejournal.org] 2007-05-19 22:06|| Front Page Top

#3 Interesting observation, Chuck, please feel free to expound. I think that in the case of the Philippines, there is an incumbent colonialism that might be far more to blame. The early Catholic church delegated huge land grants to those Spaniards or high blood natives who would dedicate themselves (read: tithe), to the church.

As with Mexico and many other Spanish colonies, this resulted in well-over 90% of the wealth concentrating into the hands of much less than 10% of the population. Far be it from Marcos to challenge such a cozy arrangement with those who held the real power. Neither Cory Aquino nor Gloria Macapagal Arroyo could possibly break this iron clad contract, especially not in a nation so close to theocracy whereby even divorce is illegal.

Until there is some sort of reform and revocation of unduly allocated property rights in the Philippines, few of the toiling masses will feel any motivation to uplift themselves if the elite manage to rise even higher while riding upon the peons' sweat-stained backs.

The legacy of Spanish colonialism's looting mentality continues to poison Latin and Central America, Mexico and most other places such fundamentalist Catholic doctrine left its footprint, including Spain itself.

Posted by Zenster">Zenster 2007-05-19 22:28|| 2007-05-19 22:28|| Front Page Top

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